A HISTORY 



THE FOUR GEORGES, 

llhujs of dkcskni) ; 



CONTAINING 



PERSONAL INCIDENTS OF THEIR LIYES, PUBLIC EVENTS 
OF THEIR REIGNS, 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THEIR CHIEF MINISTERS, COURTIERS, 
AND FAVORITES. 

SAaIUEL m.^mucker, ll. d. 

author or "court and reign of Catherine ii.," "memorable scenes in frencu 
history," "life and times of Alexander Hamilton, - ' etc. 



NEW YORK : 
D . APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

346 & 348-BROADWAY. 
LONDON : 1G LITTLE BRITAIN. 
1860. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

SAMUEL M. SMUCKEE, 

Ic the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 






THE LIBRARY 
OF CONGRESS 

WASHINOTOH 



PREFACE 



The period during which the Four Georges wielded the 
sceptre of the British empire, may justly be regarded as the 
Augustan era of British history. At no other period has the 
nation produced so many eminent statesmen, orators, generals, 
philosophers, poets, and savans ; nor have public events of 
equal magnitude and interest occurred at any other epoch of 
the nation's progress. If there were few features of the per- 
sonal character of those sovereigns which rendered them 
worthy of notice, there never existed rulers in any age or 
country who derived so brilliant a reflected lustre from the 
colossal minds by whom they were surrounded; from the 
thrilling transactions in which they were compelled to act a 
part ; and from the imposing eminence on which the accident 
of birth had placed them. 

Hitherto little knowledge of this era and of its events 
could be obtained by the general reader, except at very con- 
siderable expense, and by the perusal of many ponderous 
volumes. As this process does not comport with the con- 
venience or the leisure of a large portion of the reading pub- 
lic, it seemed to the writer that a work which narrated the 
chief incidents of the public history and private lives of the 
Four Georges, in a compact and convenient compass, might 
be useful, by filling up an unoccupied niche in that department 
of our literature. The present writer has therefore attempted 
the task ; and has endeavored to present, beside the matters 
just named, a survey of the causes and the consequences of 



IV PEEFACE. 

events, historic portraits of the chief ministers, courtiers, and 
favorites of those sovereigns, with summary views of the 
nature and results of their measures. 

In performing such a task within the prescribed limits, a 
prudent condensation of materials became an essential element 
of success, while at the same time the danger of being super- 
ficial and unsatisfactory would be imminent. The writer has 
carefully labored to attain the former, and to avoid the latter. 
His effort has been to select what was most important and 
noteworthy in the history of the men and the epoch under con- 
sideration, at the same time omitting whatever seemed trivial 
in itself, incidental in its occurrence, and insignificant in its 
consequences. 

That the subject of this volume possesses an interest with 
American readers, cannot well be doubted. The era of which 
we have written was the formative period of the present time, 
both in England and in the United States. England then gave 
birth to the men and the institutions which were the predeces- 
sors of those which now exist among us ; and though, by as- 
suming the airs of a stepmother, she compelled her offspring 
to desert her bosom, and maintain an independent, and for a 
time, a hostile relation toward her, they feel an interest in her 
history and her fate. If this volume may diffuse information 
in reference to the past career and condition of the most im- 
portant and influential nation of modern times, the writer will 
be happy to have contributed, in however humble a degree, to 
so desirable a result. 

S. M. S. 

Philadelphia, Sept., 1859. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION". 

EVENTS "WHICH PEECEDED THE ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 

PAGE 

Colossal Power of Louis XIV. at the commencement of the Eighteenth Century — 
William of Orange — Accession of Queen Anne — The War of the Spanish Suc- 
cession — Marlborough — Capture of Liege and Bonn — Events of 1704 — Memo- 
rable Conflict of Blenheim — Its Results — Rejoicing throughout the Continent — 
Exultations in England — Events of 1705— Third Campaign of the War — Battle of 
Ramillies — Defeat of the French — Results of the Victory — Supremacy of the 
Duchess of Marlborough — Decline of her Influence — Battle of Oudenarde — Hu- 
miliation of Louis XIV. — His Appeal to the French Nation — Great Battle of 
Malplaquet — Defeat of the French — Influence of Mrs. Masham — Disgrace of 
Marlborough — Extraordinary Treaty with Louis XIV. — Death of Queen Anne, 1 



PART I. 

LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 

CHAPTEPw I. 
Origin of the House of Hanover — History of the Family of Zell — Birth of George 
I. — His Visit to England — His Accession to the Electorate of Hanover — His Mar- 
riage — Sophia Dorothea of Zell — Her Attachment to Koenigsmark — The Count- 
ess Von Platen — Her crafty and malicious Intrigues — Peculiar Qualities of her 
Family — The Imprudence of Koenigsmark and the Princess Sophia — They deter- 
mine to elope — Discovery of the Plot — Violent and mysterious Death of Koe- 
nigsmark — Popular Rumors in reference to his Fate. . ... 19 

CHAPTER II. 

Imprisonment of the Crown Princess — Her formal Separation from her Husband — 
Evidences of her Guilt — Her mode of lifo at Ahlden — Her Memoirs — Accession 
of her Husband to the British Throne — His indifference on the subject — His 
arrival in England — State of Parties at that time — Doctrines of the Whigs and 
Tories — The Government in the hands of tho Whigs — Coronation of George I. — 
Proceedings in Parliament— Violence of Parties — The Royal Mistresses — First 
Visit of George I. to Hanover— Hostility between the King and Heir Apparent, 30 



VI CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER III. 
The Jacobite Rebellion — The Pretender proclaimed in Scotland — The Victory at 
Preston — The Septennial Bill — Furious Debates in Parliament — History of the 
South Sea Bubble — Its Unparalleled Effects — National frenzy — Universal Bank- 
ruptcy — Judicious measures adopted by Sir Robert Walpole — Peculiar qualities 
of this Minister — His Personal and Political History — His Eminent Services to 
the House of Hanover 45 

CHAPTER IV. 
Movements of the Pretender — Apprehensions felt in England — Bishop Attcrbury — 
His Trial for Treason, and Banishment — Theological Controversies — Doctrine of 
the Trinity— Spirit of Religious Toleration— The Earl of Nottingham's Bill of 
Pains and Penalties — Bigotry and Intolerance of the Bishops — Persecution of the 
Roman Catholics — Relations of England with the Continental Powers . . .57 

CHAPTER V. 
Treaty formed between England and the Continental Powers— Horace Walpole— 
Dissatisfaction with the Treaty — Trial and Punishment of the Earl of Maccles- 
field — Return of Bolingbroke to England — He unites with Pulteney and Wind- 
ham in opposition — Character of William Pulteney — His remarkable Attain- 
ments — Character of Windham — Description of Bolingbroke — His Early History 
— His Physical Advantages — His Prodigious Talents — His Political Career — 
Death of the Wife of George I. at Ahlden 65 

CHAPTER VI. 
Meeting of Parliament — The Royal Speech — Loyal Address of the Legislature — 
The Restoration of Gibraltar — Threatened Hostilities with France — Sudden 
Establishment of Peace — Domestic and Foreign Prosperity — Last Visit of George 
I. to Hanover — His Illness and Death — Character of this Monarch — His neglect 
of Literature — Survey of his Reign — Joseph Addison — Dean Swift — His Genius 
and Irreligion — Writings of Alexander Pope — John Gay — Sir Isaac Newton — 
John Flamsteed — State of Morals and Religion in England during the Reign of 
George I. . . , 76 



PAKT II. 

LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 

CHAPTER I. 
Birth of George II. — His Removal to England — His Marriage — His Court in Leices- 
ter House — Commanding Talents of his Wife — Her Female Favorites — Prince 
Frederic — Hostility between him and his Parents — The Accession of George II. — 
He destroys his Father's Will— His Cabinet — He retains Robert Walpole — Duke 
of Newcastle — Earl of Chesterfield— Lord Carteret — His Remarkable Talents 

CHAPTER II. 

Revenues and Expenses of the Government — Spanish Aggressions on British Com 
merce — The Treaty of Vienna — Walpole's Law of Excise— Marriage of the Prin- 



CONTENTS. Vll 

PAGE 

cess Anne to the Prince of Orange — Incidents connected with the Marriage — 
Mortifying conduct of Frederic, Prince of Wales — He leads the Opposition 
against Walpole — Motion to repeal the Septennial Parliament Act — Increase of 
the National Forces by Land and Sea 100 

CHAPTER III. 
Domestic Life of George II. — Quarrels with Prince Frederic — The King's Visit to 
Hanover — Singular Correspondence between the King and Queen — The Monarch's 
Contempt for the Bishops — Marriage of Prince Frederic proposed — First Speech 
of William Pitt in Parliament — The Princess Augusta of Saxe-Coburg — Her 
Marriage to the Heir Apparent— Her Arrival in England — Visit of George II. to 
Hanover — His Intrigue with Madame Walmoden — Popular Satires and Cari- 
catures of the Monarch at Home 103 

CHAPTER IV. 

George II. embarks for England— A Storm arises — Apprehensions for his Fate — He 
narrowly escapes Shipwreck — Congratulations of the Koyal Family and of Par- 
liament — Revenues of Prince Frederic— Coarseness and Vulgarity of the King 
and Queen — Confinement of the Princess of Wales — Disgraceful feuds in the 
Royal Family — Declining health of the Queen — Domestic Scenes— The Queen's 
last Illness — Her Death — Ridiculous Conduct of the Bereaved Monarch . . 117 

CHAPTER V. 

Fate of the Queen's Favorites — Lord Hcrvey — Intellectual and Moral Character of 
the defunct Queen — Spanish Aggressions — The National Forces Augmented— 
War Declared against Spain — Events of the War — Cabal in Parliament against 
Walpole — Its Failure — Hostility of the Prince of Wales to the Minister — Wal- 
pole compelled at last to Resign — His Services to the Monarch .... 128 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Members of the New Cabinet — The Pension Bill — Lord Carteret Prime Min- 
ister — The Seven Tears' War — George II. present at the Battle of Dettingen — 
Events of 1745 — Battle of Fontenoy — Movements of the Pretender in Scotland — 
His Successor— His Defeat at Culloden — Success of British Arms at Home and 
Abroad — Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 133 

CHAPTER VII. 
Death of Frederic, Prince of Wales — Peculiar Conduct of the King on the Occasion — 
Decline of the opposition in Parliament — Increasing Eminence of William Pitt — 
Character of his Eloquence — Mr. Murray — Henry Fox — Acts of Parliament- 
Death of Henry Pelham — Duke of Newcastle Prime Minister — War between 
the English and French Colonies in North America — The Fling's Address to 
Parliament in November, 1755 — Furious Debates which Ensued — War with 
France — Cowardice of Admiral Byng — The Disappointment and Rage of the 
Nation — The Trial, Conviction, and Execution of the Admiral .... 143 

CHAPTER VIII. 
England without a Ministry — New Cabinet formed — William Pitt becomes Premier 
• — His Extraordinary Character— The Vigor and Energy of his Government — 
Success of the British Arms by Land and Sea— National Exultation— The British 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Empire in India — Its History and Vicissitudes — The French Power in India — 
Conflicts between the two Nations — Brilliant Victories of Clive — Surajah 
Doulah— Horrors of the Black Hole— Popularity of Pitt's Administration at 
Home — Death of George II. — His Intellectual and Moral Character — Eminent 
Men of Letters during his Reign —State of Religion and of the Established 
Church — Cardinal Principle of the Government of George II .... 159 



PAKT III. 

LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 

CHAPTER I. 
Birth of George III. — nis Connection with Hannah Lightfoot — Lady Sarah Lennox — 
Proposals for his Marriage— Researches of Colonel Graome — The Prince's .Mar- 
riage to Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz — Her Character — Accession of George 
III. — His Mental Qualities— His Persona] Appearance — Administration of "Wil- 
liam Pitt— Lord Bute— His Relation to the Princess Dowager — A New Minis- 
try— Meeting of Parliament— War declared against Spain— Incidents of the 
Conflict 175 

CHAPTER II. 

Birth of the Prince of Wales— Policy of tCe Bute Cabinet — Treaty of Peace with 
Spain — Dissatisfaction of the Nation — Eloquence of Pitt and Fox — Resignation 
of Lord Bute — His Great Unpopularity— George Grcnville becomes Premier — 
John "Wilkes — His Singular Character— His "Wit— His Contest with the Court — 
His Expulsion from Parliament — His Arrest for Libel— His "Essay on Woman'' — 
His Intrepidity — His ultimate Triumph over the Ministers 189 

CHAPTER III. 

Financial Affairs of the Nation — Resolution to impose Stamp Duties on the Amer- 
ican Colonies — A Council of Regency Appointed— Death of the Duke of Cum- 
berland—The Rockingham Ministry — Inefficiency of this Cabinet— First appear- 
ance of Burke in Parliament — Dispute with the American Colonies — Discussions 
in reference to their Taxation — Arguments advanced on both sides of the 
Question— Return of William Pitt to Power 203 

CHAPTER IV. 
Lord Chatham's Inefficiency— His Illness— His Absurd Conduct — His Singular Se- 
clusion— Inflexibility of George III. — Resignation of Lord Chatham — The Par 
liamentary Election of 176S— Renewal of the Contest with Wilkes — His Repeated 
Election to, and Expulsion from, Parliament— His Ultimate Defeat — Charter of 
the British East India Company — The Letters of Junius — Intense Excitement 
produced by their Appearance 211 

CHAPTER V. 

Lord North becomes Premier — Renewal of Wilkes's Case— The Stamp Act— Wilkes 
elected an Alderman of London— His Contest with the Court— Growing Troubles 
with the American Colonies — Benjamin Franklin in England— First Conven- 



CONTENTS. IX 

PAGE 

tion of the American Congress — Petition presented to George III. by Wilkes 
as Mayor of London — Commencement of the Revolutionary "War — Hostilities 
between England and France — Disturbances in Ireland — Death of Lord 
Chatham 223 

CHAPTER VI. 
Domestic Life of George III. — His Public and Private Cares — Repeal of the Laws 
against Roman Catholics — First Appearance of the second "William Pitt in Par- 
liament — Affairs of the British East India Company — The Rise and Progress of 
that vast Empire — Outrages and Tyranny which disgraced its history — Admin- 
istration of Warren Hastings — Incidents of the "War in America — Second Ad- 
ministration of Lord Rockingham — Proposals of Peace with the Colonies in 
America — Provisional Articles — Final Adjustment of the Treaty . . . .230 

CHAPTER VII. 

Joint Ministry of Lord North and Mr. Fox — Renewed Insanity of George III. — 
Mr. Fox's East India Bill — Dismissal of the Coalition Cabinet — The younger 
Pitt becomes Premier — The Quality and Effects of his Oratory — Splendid Era 
of British Eloquence — Mr. Pitt's East India Bill — Troubles in Ireland — Influence 
of Flood and Grattan — Pitt's Financial Measures — Affairs of India — Adminis- 
tration of Warren Hastings— His Life, Character, and Genius — His Trial before 
the House of Peers — Unrivalled Displays of Forensic Eloquence — Hastings' 
final Triumph and Acquittal 239 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Attempt to assassinate the King — State of his Mind — Disgraceful Conduct of the 
Prince of Wales — The King's Insanity returns— The peculiarities of his Disease — 
His Successive Attacks — Regency Bill — The King's sudden Recovery — Important 
Events in France — Their Influence on the Popular Mind in England— Debates 
in Parliament in reference to these Events — Riots — Recall of the British Am- 
bassador at Paris— Expulsion of the French Ambassador from England — Dan- 
gerous Excitement pervading the Nation — The French Republic declares "War 
against the King of England and the Dutch Stadtholder 249 

CHAPTER IS. 

Events of the War with France — Increased Unpopularity of the King — He is assailed 
by the Populace — He is fired at in the Theatre— The Roman Catholic Bill — 
Demand of Bonaparte that the French Princes be expelled from England — Inci- 
dents of the Hostilities which ensued — Conspiracy of Robert Emmet in Ireland 
— Its Suppression — Decline of the Addington Ministry — Hostilities with France 
—Triumph of Nelson at Trafalgar— Exultation of the Nation— Death of "William 
Pitt — He is succeeded by Charles James Fox — His short Administration and 
Death— Lord Howick — Mr. Canning becomes Foreign Secretary — British Vic- 
tories in Spain and Portugal— Prodigious Power of Napoleon Bonaparte . . 261 

CHAPTER X. 

Renewed and Hopeless Insanity of George III. — Details respecting the Origin, 
Nature, and Effects of his Mental Disease— His Physicians— His Treatment— 
His Condition officially communicated to Parliament — A Regency permanently 
1* 



X CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

appointed— Gradual Decline of the Health of George III.— "War with the 
United States of America— Growth of the Power and Supremacy of Napo- 
leon—His Overthrow by the European Coalition — His Retirement at Elba . . 273 

CHAPTER XL 
Napoleon's Escape from Elba— His Arrival at Paris — Combination of the Great 
Powers of Europe against him — His Prodigious Efforts to Confront them — 
Immense Resources of the Allies — Conflict at Charleroi — At Ligny — At Quatre 
Bras — Preparation for a Decisive Battle — Th« Field of "Waterloo — Incidents 
of this Memorable Battle — Heroism of the Combatants — Defeat of Napoleon — 
Gratitude of the British Nation to the British Generals and Soldiers — Paci- 
fication of the Continent — State of the Finances — Commotions in Ireland — 
Domestic Legislation — The Regency — Death of George III. — State of the British 
Empire at this Period 2T9 

CHAPTER XII. 

Importance of the Era of George III. — Historic Portraits of its most Distinguished 
Personages — William Pitt, Earl of Chatham— His Appearance— Character of his 
Eloquence — His high sense of Honor — His Enlarged and Enlightened Views — 
Lord North — His Character and Talents — The Difficulties of his Position — Splen- 
did array of Parliamentary Orators of this Era — "Varied Talents of Edmund 
Burke — His Imagination — His Erudition — His Conservative Opinions — Charles 
James Fox— His Contrast in every Respect to Burke— His prodigious Power as 
a Parliamentary Debater — His Efforts as an Author — The Younger Pitt the 
sole Rival of Fox as a Debater — Sheridan — His Merits and Defects — "William 
"Windham — Junius — Distinguished Jurists — Horace W T alpoIe — Eminent Histo- 
rians, Poets, and Prelates of the Reign of George III 296 



PAKT IV 

LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH 

CHAPTER L 
Birth of George IV. — Congratulations on the Event — His Early Education — His 
Talents — His Disposition — His Connection with Miss Darby — Her History — 
Frantic Admiration of the Prince — Incidents of their Attachment — The Princo 
removes to Carlton House — His Peculiar Manner of Making Love — His Con- 
nection with Mrs. Crouch — He becomes the Admirer of Mrs. Fitzherbert — Her 
Origin and History — Her Extraordinary Beauty — She is privately Married to 
the Prince — Their Residence together — Unprincipled denial of their Marriage 
in Parliament by orders of the Prince — Mrs. Fitzherbert's Indignation at his 
Perfidy — Immense Debts of the Prince — They are paid by an Appropriation of 
Parliament 823 

CHAPTER II. 
Removal of the Prince of "Wales to Brighton — His Attachment to Mrs. Fitzherbert— 
His Extravagance— His Marriage proposed to a German Princess — Alleged In- 
validity of his Marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert— His Match with Caroline of 



CONTENTS. XI 

Brunswick Consummated— Her Character and Appearance— Arrival of the 
Princess in England — Her first Interview with her future Husband — Its Un- 
happy Result — Tlio Marriage Ceremony — Disgraceful Conduct of the Bride- 
groom — His Removal to Carlton House— Liquidation of the enormous Debts of 
the Prince— Domestic Quarrels between the Prince and Princess of Wales — 
Birth of the Princess Charlotte— Final Separation of her Parents . . . 332 

CHAPTER III. 
Defects of the Prince of Wales — The Inconsistency of his Political Conduct — The 
Situation of the Princess of "Wales — Lord and Lady Douglas — Malicious Charges 
of the latter against the Princess — Trial of the Princess for Adultery — Evi- 
dence in her favor — Her Acquittal — The Sympathy of the Nation in her behalf— 
The Prince of "Wales takes a new Mistress — Lady Hertford — Financial Em- 
barrassments of the Princess of "Wales — Death of Mr. Percival — Duke of 
"Wellington — The Trince of Wales obtains an unrestricted Regency . . . 849 

CHAPTER IV. 
Unpleasant Position of the Princess Charlotte — Published Letter of the Princess 
of Wales — Flight of the Princess Charlotte from her Father's Residence— She Is 
compelled to return — Rage of the Prince Regent at her Flight — Persecutions 
of her Mother — The Princess of Wales resolves to travel on the Continent — Mar- 
riage of the Princess Charlotte — Her Subsequent Death — General Grief of the 
Nation — Conduct of the Princess of Wales during her Travels — The Milan Com- 
mission — Resolution of the Princess to return to England — Her Second Trial 
for Adultery is resolved upon 358 

CHAPTER V. 
Commencement of the Scrutiny — The Famous Bill of Pains and Penalties— The 
Queen's Accusers and Defenders — Imposing Scene in the House of Lords — 
Distinguished Rank of the Judges, Accuser, Defendant, and Counsel — Exami- 
nation of the Witnesses — Learning and Aeuteness of Messrs. Denman and 
Brougham — Overwhelming Power of their Eloquence — The Virtual Triumph 
of the Queen — The Withdrawal of the Bill — Exultation of her Friends — Popular 
Rejoicings and Processions — Mortification and Malignity of the King . . . 867 

CHAPTER VI. 
Preparations for the Coronation of George IV. — Intense interest felt by him in tho 
Ceremony — Determination of Queen Caroline to be present — Efforts made to 
dissuade her from so doing— Her Unconquerable Obstinacy— Splendor and Mag- 
nificence of the Ceremony — Effort of the Queen to gain admission to tho 
Abbey — Her Ignominious Failure — Her Dreadful Mortification — The effect pro- 
duced by it upon her Health — Her immediate and rapid Decline — Her Death— 
Her Character — Malignant Hatred of her Husband — His Joy at her Death — 
Removal of her Remains to Brunswick — Her Burial 376 

CHAPTER VII. 

Death of the Duke of Kent — Historic Portrait of his Life — His early Education — 

His Residence at Geneva — His Sudden Flight to England — Tyranny of George 

III. — The Duke is ordered to Gibraltar — His Poverty— His Campaign in tho 

West Indies— His Residence in Canada— He is appointed Governor of Gibraltar 



Xll CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

— Character of his Administration — Ho returns to England — His Debts — His 
Marriage with the Princess of Leinengen — His Eesidence at Amoorback — Birth 
of the Princess Victoria — The Duke of Clarence — George IV. visits Ireland, 
Scotland, and Hanover — Abilities of Mr. Huskisson — Financial state of the Em- 
pire — Valuable services of Mr. Canning 889 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Disturbed state of Ireland— Miseries endured by the Laboring Classes — Establish- 
ment of Secret Societies — The Catholic Association — The Talents and Influence 
of Daniel O'Connell — Agitation in favor of Irish Emancipation — Repeal of the 
Corn Laws Proposed — Death of Lord Liverpool — Dilemma of George IV. — Mr. 
Canning becomes Premier — His Death — Lord Goderich succeeds him and re- 
signs — Duke of "Wellington becomes Prime Minister — Opposition of George 
IV. to Catholic Emancipation— Passage of the Catholic Relief Bill— English 
antipathy to Papists and Jesuits — Parliamentary Reform Bill introduced — 
Illness of George IV.— His Death— His Character 401 

CHAPTER IX. 

Survey of Distinguished Personages During the Reign of George IV. — Mr. Can- 
ning — Mr. Brougham — Details of their Lives and Labors — Estimate of their 
Talents — William "Wilberforce — Charles Earl Grey — Eminent Men of Let- 
ters — Sir "Walter Scott — Lord Byron — Thomas Campbell — Thomas Moore — Meta- 
physicians — The School of Modern British Essayists— Historians — Artists — 
Tragedians and Preachers of the Era of George IV. — Conclusion .... 418 



HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 



INTKODUCTION. 

SVENTS WHICH PRECEDED THE ACCESSION OP THE HOUSE OP HANOVER. 



Dolossal Power of Louis XIV. at the commencement of tho Eighteenth Century — 
William of Orange — Accession of Queen Anne — The "War of the Spanish Succession 
— Marlborough — Capture of Liege and Bonn— Events of 1704 — Memorable Conflict 
of Blenheim — Its Results — Rejoicing throughout the Continent — Exultations in 
England— Events of 1705— Third Campaign of the War— Battle of Ramillies— Defeat 
of the French — Results of the Victory — Supremacy of the Duchess of Marlborough — 
Decline of her Influence — Battle of Oudenarde — Humiliation of Louis XIV. — His 
Appeal to tho French Nation — Great Battle of Malplaquet — Defeat of the French- 
Influence of Mrs. Masham — Disgrace of Marlborough — Extraordinary Treaty with 
Louis XIV. — Death of Queen Anne. 

\.t the commencement of the eighteenth century, the colossal 
>ower and the restless ambition of Louis XIV. of France, were 
ources of apprehension to England, and to every community in 
Durope. He was a monarch of more than ordinary ability, and 
is controlling characteristic was an insatiable desire for the 
icrease of his power, and the aggrandizement of his dominions, 
le was indeed intensely despotic in his views ; and his whole 
fe was devoted to the concentration of all the authority of the 
tate in his own august person.* Every portion of Europe, in 

* The most reliable sources from which information may be derived in refer- 
nce to the events which occurred during the reign of Queen Anne, and pre- 
ared the way for the accession of the House of Hanover, are : Life of the Duke 
' Marlborough, by Archdeacon Coze ; History of the Last Four Years of Queen 
nne, by Jonathan Swift, London, 1758 ; History of Great Britain during the 
'eign of Queen Anne, by Thomas Sumerville, London, 1798 ; Bishop Burnet's 
'istory of his Own Time, London, 1734. 
1 



ti HISTOEY OF THE FOUE GEOEGES. 

addition to his own kingdom, felt the operation of this absolute 
and all-absorbing principle. He was the acknowledged political 
head of the Eoman Catholic interest. He was also the invinci- 
ble foe of the integrity and prosperity of the Low Countries,; 
as was evinced by his rapid conquest of Flanders, and his de- 
clared determination to annex the Dutch provinces in the vicinity 
of the Eastern frontiers of France to his already compact and 
overgrown empire. 

The most formidable opponent whom Louis XIV. had yet 
encountered in the execution of his gigantic plans of conquest, 
was the able and indomitable Prince of Orange. That remarka^ 
ble and mysterious man, whose peculiar qualities have beeni 
depicted with such masterly skill by the most gifted historian 
whom the nineteenth century has produced,* devoted his whole; 
life to the task of curbing that aspiring spirit, and humbling that 
haughty head. In spite of all his efforts Louis obtained, partly 
by treaty and partly by conquest, not only Flanders, but Bava-i 
ria, Sardinia, Naples, Sicily, while he ruled the Spanish empire 
through Philip V. its sovereign ; but William of Orange succeed-l 
ed in establishing a memorable coalition against his foe, of which 
England, Hanover, Prussia, Denmark, and Holland were mem- 
bers. Before these hostile nations could effectively array theii 
armaments against each other, the soul of the conspiracy expired 
in the person of its founder ; and several years of undiminished 
supremacy were thus insured to the French autocrat, by the 
death of William III. 

In 1702 Queen Anne ascended the British throne. Hei 
accession did not change the intentions of the confederated powers 
in reference to the common enemy ; but it brought upon the 
stage of action great heroes who were destined to take a prom 
inent part in some of the most momentous events of moderr 
times. The War of the Succession still remained the all-absorb 
ing topic of interest in England. The preservation of the bal 
ance of power on the continent, the subjugation of Louis, and the 
firm establishment of the Protestant religion in England, al 

* Macaulay, History of England, Vol. II. page 48, Amer. Ed. 



INTEODUCTION". 6 

seemed to be dependent upon the events of the war which were 
about to ensue. Hostilities commenced in 1703. The allied 
army amounted to fifty-six thousand men, that of the French 
numbered sixty thousand. The former was commanded by two 
generals whose abilities and fame have never been surpassed in 
modern times, and whose sagacity and self-control were so re- 
markable, that they never permitted any jealous feeling to inter- 
fere for a moment in their perfect harmony of action. These 
were Marlborough and Prince Eugene. They judiciously divided 
the supreme command between them, each exercising it on alter- 
nate days, and this arrangement was uniformly observed during 
eight successive campaigns. The French army was placed under 
the orders of Marshal Tallard, the most able and experienced 
general in the French service. The first events of the war were 
the capture of Liege, Bonn, and Lienburg ; but soon incidents of 
far more absorbing and thrilling interest were destined to occur. 
On the 2d of August, 1704, the French and allied armies took 
their positions near the then obscure but now immortal village of 
Blenheim, in Bavaria. The former were posted between Blen- 
heim on the right, and Lutzingen on the left. Tine right wing 
was commanded by Marshal Tallard, the left by Marshal Marsin, 
and the extreme left by Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. The lines 
extended two miles in length. Between the combatants several 
rivulets flowed, which it was necessary for the allies to cross, 
near to their confluence with the Danube, before they could 
reach the elevated plateau on which the French were admirably 
posted, protected by the whole of their artillery. Ere the 
battle began, Marlborough visited in person every battery and 
every division of his army. His lines were drawn up four deep. 
Before the order to advance was given, divine service was cele- 
brated, both according to the Protestant and the Catholic ritual, 
at the head of each division ; and the God of Battles was sol- 
emnly invoked to aid in crushing the vaunting pride and power 
| of the most inflated and presumptuous of mortals. Marlborough 
and Eugene, having each received the sacrament in the centre of 
their lines, at the conclusion of the service the order to march 



4: HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

was given. Instantly fifty-six thousand men stood to their arms. 
The rivulets and marshes in front of Blenheim and Unterglau 
were quickly passed, notwithstanding the heavy fire of artillery 
which was poured upon them by the French. The latter calmly 
awaited the attack. At length the combatants closed ; and both 
sides fought with the utmost desperation. The English, under 
Lord Cutts, attacked the village of Blenheim, where the strongest 
portion of the French infantry were posted. Twenty thousand 
men became furiously engaged around and within the village. 
The charges of the allies were made with prodigious energy, and 
were repulsed with equal resolution. At length the French pre- 
vailed, and drove back their assailants with immense slaughter. 
Victory seemed about to settle upon their standards. The cen- 
tre of the allied lines also failed at this crisis, in their attack upon 
the infantry posted under Marshal Marsin in the village of 
Oberglau ; and the communication of the allies with their right 
wing under Prince Eugene, was thus very nearly cut off. The 
consummate ability of Marlborough, at this critical moment, 
alone saved the fortunes of the clay, and turned the wavering tide 
of battle. He instantly ordered the powerful reinforcements of 
infantry, cavalry and artillery which had been placed in reserve, 
to advance to support the troops engaged both in Blenheim and 
in Oberglau, and against the long line of cavalry which Tallard 
had stationed between these two points as their connecting link. 
After a tremendous conflict, those formidable squadrons were 
broken ; they fled, and were pursued toward the Danube. By 
this means the French infantry posted in Blenheim, became iso 
lated, and more assailable both in front and in flank. 

On the extreme right, Prince Eugene met with somewhat 
similar vicissitudes. At first, his attack upon the French and 
Bavarians posted in front of the village of Lutzingen, was re 
pulsed with great slaughter. Tiie Danish contingent were thrown 
into total confusion. Thrice were they rallied, and thrice were 
they broken by the French. The steadiness of the Prussians 
whom Eugene now led forward as a last resort, alone saved his> 
division of the army from total defeat. They stood immovably 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

in their ranks ; then gradually advanced with a steady tread, 
driving before them the vast hordes of the French cavalry ; and 
by a ceaseless rolling fire, they rejoined the position which had 
been first occupied by the allies. Thus, throughout the whole 
line, the battle which had well nigh been lost was retrieved, and 
victory still rendered attainable. 

The allies now prepared to make a decisive movement. 
Blenheim had been taken, and the French on the extreme right 
had been routed. To break the immense squadrons of French 
horse posted between Blenheim and Oberglau, Marlborough 
ordered a body of cavalry ten thousand strong to advance. These 
two hosts contained the flower and chivalry of both armies, and 
on their conduct now depended the issue of the day. In mag- 
nificent array, and in compact order, the allied cavalry, present- 
ing an imposing front of three quarters of a mile, advanced to 
the charge. They were met by a fortitude and heroism worthy 
of their own. In both hosts all the noblest families of England, 
Holland, Hanover, and France, were represented by their chival- 
rous sons. When the advancing lines had nearly met, they 
rushed forward to the attack with prodigious fury. The conflict 
was long and bloody. At length the cavalry of the allies pre- 
vailed, the immense squadrons of the French were overthrown, 
and they fled tumultuously from the field. Nine battalions were 
surrounded, cut to pieces, or taken prisoners. This completed 
the victory of the left under Marlborough. 

On the right Prince Eugene still manfully upheld the fight 
with his Prussians. The French lines were broken, and began 
to waver and retreat. They took post at Lutzingen in their 
rear, and there a long and bloody conflict ensued. But the vic- 
tory of Marlborough on the left enabled him to despatch rein- 
forcements to the right, and the Prussians were strengthened by 
accessions from the Danes, Austrians, and Wurtembergers. 
The French and Bavarians were again routed with great slaugh- 
ter. Marshal Tallard, in attempting to rally his troops, was 
taken prisoner. So admirably did Marlborough follow up his 
triumph that the total loss of the French, including the killed, 



6 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

the wounded, the captured, and those who were drowned beneath 
the turbulent waves of the Danube, amounted to the prodigious 
number of forty thousand men. The French lost also forty -four 
pieces of artillery, twenty-five standards, and ninety colors. 
Their spirit was effectually broken. Many battalions, over- 
whelmed with despair and rage, burned their standards, buried 
their arms, and fled in the utmost disorder to remote and obscure 
portions of the country. 

The joyful news of this great victory, the first pitched battle 
which had been gained over Louis XIV. by his enemies, spread 
rapidly throughout Europe. It created a degree of enthusiasm 
almost unequalled in modern times. Not even the tremendous 
rout of the Turks at Vienna by the heroic John Sobieski, in 
1683, by which Christendom was saved from the bloody and 
terrible supremacy of the Ottoman power, — thrilled the inhab- 
itants of the continent with an intenser rapture than did this sud- 
den eheck upon the pernicious pride and ambition of the French 
potentate. Vast communities living in far distant climes — from 
Scotland to Wallachia — kindled with sympathetic joy at the 
achievement of this glorious triumph over that haughty and aspir- 
ing monarch. Long had Louis XIV. been feared, hated, and 
envied ; and these sentiments had been combined with another 
which rendered them still more ignominious and undendurable, 
— the sentiment of despair, resulting from the assured conviction 
that no power on earth could resist or control so formidable and 
aggressive a despot. But by reason of this triumph, men re- 
joiced to know that, within the brilliant and gilded walls of Ver- 
sailles, the vaunting spirit so long unused to any emotion except 
that of conscious and invincible superiority, would be compelled 
to chafe with mortification over a defeat at once so unexpected, 
so unusual, and so disastrous. 

In England the exultation produced by the martial glories of 
Blenheim was unparalleled. It was no insignificant honor that 
English arms, English diplomacy, and an English general, had 
been the main cause of such propitious results. Envy for a time 
hid her malignant head, and all classes, from the grateful queen 



rNTKODTTCTION. ( 

upon her throne clown to the lowest and humblest citizen, united 
in extolling the heroism and genius of Marlborough to the skies. 
Parliament conferred upon him, what he valued still more than 
titles and honors, substantial wealth, — the extensive and valuable 
manor of Woodstock. This noble palace and estate had in for- 
mer ages been the scene of the gentle wooings and rapturous 
loves of Henry II. and the fair Rosamond. Queen Anne or- 
dered that another and more splendid palace should be con- 
structed on the spot, more commensurate with the gratitude of 
the nation, and 'the greatness of the recipient's merits ; and that 
the stately seat should be known to future times by the then 
historical name of Blenheim. In Germany, Marlborough was 
created a prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and other honors 
and dignities were conferred upon him by the grateful nations 
whose troops he had led to victory. 

A glorious beginning had thus been made in humbling the 
formidable power of France ; but it was necessary to follow up 
that beginning with the utmost energy. Accordingly Marlbor- 
ough endeavored, during the campaign of 1705, to carry on opera- 
tions in an extensive and effective maimer ; but he was con- 
stantly hampered by the backwardness of the English parlia- 
ment in voting the necessary supplies, and by the parsimony 
and treachery of his continental allies. Had the triumph of 
Blenheim been properly improved during the ensuing year, it 
is probable that the war might soon have been ended by the 
complete humiliation of Louis. But during this year the con- 
duct of the allies was extremely remiss ; and at one time it even 
seemed not improbable that the coalition which the long toils 
and the deathless zeal of William III. had cemented, would be 
completely dissolved. The unrivalled abilities of Marlborough 
for negotiation and conciliation, and his prodigious self-command, 
alone averted so disastrous a result. His utmost efforts were 
able only to convert the campaign of 1705 from one of battles 
into one of sieges. The fortress of Huys was attacked and 
taken. Villeroi, the French general, entered the field with a 
well-appointed army of seventy-five thousand men ; while the 



8 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

forces of the allies under Marlborough numbered but fifty thou- 
sand. Villeroi took a strongly fortified position on the Meuse, 
stretching through Leau to Antwerp. Marlborough, though 
greatly inferior in numbers to his enemy, determined to attack 
him. He disguised his movements with such skill, that, at four 
o'clock in the morning, he appeared before the French lines, 
when he was supposed to have been at least twenty miles dis- 
tant. After a desperate, but desultory contest, the French re- 
treated, and took up a new position eighteen miles in the rear. 
They had lost all their redoubts and artillery, and twelve hun- 
dred prisoners. Their new position was protected from an attack 
by the overhanging batteries and immense fortifications of the 
city of Louvain. 

During the winter which ensued after the second campaign 
in the Low Countries, the British sovereign, court, and people 
were chiefly interested in preparations for recommencing the 
conflict in the ensuing year with greater energy and effectiveness. 
It was also a duty of great importance and difficulty to arouse the 
enthusiasm and retain the assistance of those several continental 
governments who were parties to the coalition against France. In 
this work the abilities of Marlborough were of essential service, 
and they assume an historical prominence which no other statesman 
or soldier of the time could boast. He visited the allies in person 
during the winter, and succeeded in reanimating their enthusiasm, 
their hatred to France, and their determination to persist in en- 
deavoring to humble the power and pride of the common foe. 

The third campaign of the War of the Succession now 
opened. Both parties had determined again to try the issue of 
a great battle. The French selected a strong position on an 
elevated and extensive plateau at Ramillies, in the province of 
Brabant. The descent from this plateau was abrupt, and it was 
surrounded by several streams and deep marshes. The heights 
were skilfully defended by a numerous array of artillery. On 
the right of the French position a high mound of singular ap- 
pearance and mysterious character, reared its time-worn sum- 
mit ; it bore the marks of great antiquity, and carried the mind 



INTRODUCTION". 9 

of the observer back to generations of rude Teutonic races long 
since crumbled into dust. It was the tomb of the ancient Ger- 
man hero Ottomond ; and around that mouldering relic of a past 
and forgotten age, one of the fiercest and bloodiest struggles of 
modern times was destined to take place. 

The allied generals formed their plan of attack with consum- 
mate skill. To deceive Marshal Villeroi as to their real inten- 
tion, they pretended to assail the extreme left of the French at 
Anderkirch. To meet this unexpected movement Villeroi de- 
tached a large body of troops from his right and centre. This 
was what Marlborough had desired. He instantly began a 
furious assault upon the portion of the French lines thus weak- 
ened. The artillery of the latter produced tremendous havoc 
among their foes ; yet the resistless ardor and steadiness of the 
allies soon drove the French from their position. The skill of 
the veteran Villeroi was exerted to the utmost to retrieve the 
consequences of the error into which he had been trapped ; but 
in vain. Fresh troops were constantly ordered up by the com- 
manders on both sides, and the earth shook beneath the repeated 
charges, as wave after wave of that living and furious flood met, 
recoiled, and rebounded again over the ensanguined scene. 
Around the tumulus of old heroic Ottomond, the deadliest 
combats took place. The blood flowed in torrents through the 
streets of the village of Ramillies. Marlborough was himself 
very nearly taken prisoner. But at length his superior skill and 
courage prevailed. In vain did Villeroi endeavor again and 
again to rally his broken squadrons. His troops gradually gave 
way along the whole line of battle. After a contest of three 
hours the rout became general, and the French army fled in dis- 
order toward Louvain. 

This celebrated battle took place on the 20th of May, 1706, 
and the trophies of the victory were immense. The French lost 
in killed and wounded, seven thousand men. Six thousand pris- 
oners were taken. They lost the whole of their artillery and 
baggage, and eighty standards. The Princes de Rohan and De 
Soubise, and a son of Marshal Tallard, were among the captives. 
1* 



10 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

The allies lost three thousand six hundred men in killed and 
wounded . The results of the triumph were in the highest degree 
important ; for Marlborough knew better than any general Iioav 
to profit by success, and how to consummate the evils of a foe's 
defeat. The whole of Austrian Flanders immediately passed 
into the possession of the allies. Brussels, Louvain, Mechlin, 
Ghent, and Bruges, at once opened their gates to the conquerors. 
The joy which this victory excited in England was equal to that 
occasioned by the triumph of Blenheim. This feeling was height- 
ened by the subsequent capture of Ostend, Antwerp, Menin, 
Dendermonde, and Ath. Both houses of Parliament voted Marl- 
borough the nation's thanks ; and gratitude more substantial, and 
therefore more acceptable to the hero, was bestowed on him in 
the shape of an annuity of five thousand pounds, and the perpet- 
uation of his peerage to his descendants forever. The generous 
queen, in her doting affection for her beloved " Mrs. Freeman," the 
wife of the conqueror, declared that the liberality of parliament was 
unequal to the deserts of so great a hero, and she wrote with her 
royal hand as follows : " I desire my dear Mrs. Freeman and 
Mr. Freeman, to be so kind as to accept of two thousand pounds 
per year out of the privy purse beside the grant of the five thou- 
sand (by parliament); and I beg that Mrs. Freeman would never 
in any way give me an answer to this, only comply with the 
desires of your poor, unfortunate, faithful Mrs. Morley (the queen), 
that loves you most tenderly, and is with the sincerest passion 
imaginable yours." 

The campaign of 1707 passed away without the occurrence 
of any great battle such as had illustrated the preceding years. 
Meanwhile strange revolutions were taking place in the court of 
Queen Anne. The nation had been governed by means of the 
intimate and sisterly friendship which had during so many years 
united the yielding nature of the queen to the domineering and 
arrogant " Viceroy Sarah," the Duchess of Marlborough. That 
friendship now began to cool. The duchess rendered her do- 
minion over her royal friend too absolute to be borne, even by a 
disposition so pliable and tender as that of Anne. Yet it is 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

doubtful whether the queen -would ever have had the courage to 
break her chains, had she not been encouraged so to do by the 
influence of another more congenial favorite and mistress, Mrs. 
Masham, who, at this period, began to acquire an absolute 
influence over her mind. Mrs. Masham was a distant and 
impoverished relative of the Duchess of Marlborough. She 
had been introduced into the court, while yet unmarried, and 
bearing the name of Abigail Hill. Her position at first was a 
very subordinate one ; but she possessed great artifice and talent 
for intrigue. She very soon began to gain the confidence of her 
royal mistress, and finally succeeded entirely in ejecting the arro- 
gant duchess from her place in the confidence and affection of the 
queen, and occupying it herself. The sagacious Sarah soon per- 
ceived her waning consequence in the palace, and in the mind of 
the queen ; nor was she very slow in discovering that she owed 
the ruin of her political and personal influence to the artful and 
ambitious intrigues of the very woman whom she had herself 
befriended, and introduced to the charitable patronage of the sov- 
ereign. Many successive altercations took place between the for 
mer " Mrs. Freeman " and the former " Mrs. Morley," which 
always terminated in a greater alienation between the parties. 
At length, the breach between the former friends and lovers 
became irreparable, and their personal intercourse terminated. 
A new power had arisen behind the throne, greater than the 
throne itself; and upon the head of the successful aspirant, the 
wrathful Duchess of Marlborough poured the bitter floods of her 
execration and enmity, until the intensity and the publicity of 
their mutual spite, obtained for the duchess the dignity and emi- 
nence of being the greatest and fiercest hater who ever lived. 

Though the duchess now no longer ruled England, the supreme 
command of the allied armies in the campaign of 1708 was still, 
as a matter of necessity, intrusted to her illustrious husband. 
Marshal Vendome, the ablest of the French generals who 
commanded during the War of the Succession, was now arrayed 
against him ; and operations were commenced by the French 
with unusual vigor. Vendome took Ghent and Bruges. He 



12 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

was preparing to besiege Oudenarde, another extensive and im- 
portant fortress, when Marlborough determined to concentrate 
his forces at that point, and risk the issue of another general 
engagement. But to attain this result, he was compelled to 
endure pernicious delays and obstacles from the everlasting stu- 
pidity and obstinacy of the Dutch, which led to vexations which 
almost exceeded the bounds of human endurance. 

On the 12th of July, 1708, the hostile armies came in sight 
of each other. The forces of the allies numbered eighty thou- 
sand men, those of the French eighty-five thousand. The battle 
took place in the extensive plain which surrounds the walls of 
Oudenarde. In the early portions of the conflict French impetu- 
osity and gallantry achieved, as usual, some signal advantages. 
But soon these were retrieved by the superior skill and energy 
of Marlborough. Vendome exerted his utmost efforts to break 
the hostile lines ; he descended from his horse, and led his 
columns to the attack on foot. But all was in vain. Night fell 
upon the contending hosts, at the moment when victory decisive- 
ly declared for the allies ; and the thickening darkness added im- 
mensely to the confusion and massacre of the yielding French. 
Their whole army was completely broken up ; and had an hour 
of daylight remained, the greater portion of it would probably 
have been slain or taken captive. The victory was a brilliant and 
effective one. The French lost six thousand killed and wounded, 
nine thousand prisoners, and a hundred standards. The allies 
lost five thousand men, and their triumph was almost equal in 
splendor and importance to that of Blenheim itself. In conse- 
quence of this result, Oudenarde remained in possession of the 
allies, and the fortress and city of Lille, the most valuable 
and impregnable in French Flanders, capitulated after a short 
siege. Ghent and Bruges were retaken 'from the French. At 
the termination of the campaign, the French had lost all their 
foothold in Flanders ; their best armies and most experienced 
generals had been beaten ; all their fortresses in the theatre of 
the war had been captured ; and a series of unbroken disasters 
had followed all their movements. 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

The haughty spirit of the once invincible despot of France* 
was now humbled, and all Europe exulted in his profound abase- 
ment. Never had the foil of any great tyrant from the pinnacle 
of power — not even the wreck of Napoleon at Waterloo — filled 
the world with such sincere exultation. If the allies thus con 
tinued to wrest province after province and fortress after for- 
tress from the grasp of Louis, he would soon have need to fight, 
not for glory and supremacy, but for his throne, his honor, and 
his life. Early in 17G9, he condescended to propose negotiations. 
The scene within the gorgeous saloons of Versailles had been 
strangely altered by the vicissitudes of the eight preceding cam- 
paigns. The Grand Monarqtie became gloomy and morose, and 
his appearance clearly proved that some great grief secretly de- 
pressed his once elastic and soaring spirit. In answer to his pro- 
posal to treat, the allies made the most ruinous and extravagant 
demands. They insisted on the restoration of the whole Spanish 
monarchy, including Naples and Sicily, to the house of Hapsburg ; 
the acknowledgment of the title of Queen Anne to the throne 
of England to the exclusion of the son of James II., afterward 
the Pretender ; the immediate banishment of that prince from 
France ; the destruction of the harbor of Dunkirk ; and the 
granting of an adequate barrier to Holland against the future 
aggressions of France, by transferring to the Dutch the cities of 
Ypres, Lille, Menin, Tournay, Conde, Valenciennes, Dender- 
monde, Ghent, Namur, and Luxemburg. 

When Louis XIV. heard these exorbitant conditions of 
peace demanded, he burst forth in a mingled torrent of rage, 
grief, and despair. Greatly as he had been reduced, he could 
not endure so low and so humiliating a degradation. Knowing 
Marlborough's insatiable avarice, he sent a secret messenger to 
him, offering a bribe of eighty thousand pounds if he would 
use his influence to secure Naples and Sicily, or even Naples 
without Sicily, to the French monarch. He also tendered Marl- 
borough a hundred and sixty thousand pounds if he would save 
Strasburg, Dunkirk, and Landau to France. But in this 
instance the prudent fears of Marlborough strangely prevailed 



14 HISTORY OF THE FOTTK GEOKGES. 

over his avarice, and he refused. Louis XIV. was driven to de- 
spair, and rather than accede to the first demands of the allies, he 
resolved to try once more the uncertain issue of battle. During the 
ensuing winter he summoned all the chivalry of his realm to rally 
around his throne. He tasked the utmost energies and resources 
of the kingdom. He published a manifesto, in which he made a 
touching appeal to the patriotism of his subjects. The proudest 
monarch on earth, in this great crisis of his fate, presented the 
edifying spectacle of a humble and importunate petitioner, who 
protested to his subjects that he had abandoned all the dreams 
of ambition, and only wished to save his country from ruin, his 
throne from dishonor, and himself from impending ignominy. 

Nor were these earnest appeals made in vain. The French 
nation responded generously and effectively to the call of their 
sovereign ; and when the next campaign opened, Marshal Vil- 
lains entered the field with a well-appointed armament of a hun- 
dred and twelve thousand men. It was with the utmost difficul- 
ty that Marlborough could persuade the allies to make prepara- 
tions in some degree adequate to confront so numerous an army. 
After putting forth prodigious exertions, he succeeded in collect- 
ing a hundred and ten thousand troops of all arms, and many of 
these were raw and inexperienced recruits. The first operation 
of the allies was the siege of Tournay. The citadel of this fortress 
had been pronounced by the great Conde the most perfect speci- 
men of the art of fortification in Europe. Its immense maga- 
zines were abundantly stored, and the works were defended by a 
numerous garrison. But the usual skill and good fortune of 
Marlborough prevailed ; and after a siege of eight weeks, the 
fortress capitulated. 

These were minor successes, and soon the combatants were 
ready to try the hazard of another general engagement. The 
French army, commanded by Villars, had taken a strong posi- 
tion at Malplaquet, — a spot destined afterward to rival the glo- 
ries of Blenheim and Eamillies. Ninety-five thousand men stood 
actually under arms, around the French standards. The allies 
mustered ninety-three thousand, composed of a heterogeneous 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

mass of contingents from the different countries forming the 
coalition. Both parties were eager for the conflict ; both hoped 
for victory ; and both were determined to contest the field with 
the utmost fury and resolution. The consequence was that the 
memorable heights of Malplaquet witnessed the most sanguinary 
conflict which occurred during the war. 

The battle began at half past seven in the morning, with a 
furious cannonade on both sides. The allies then advanced and 
expelled the French from a poi'tion of their position before the 
wood of Soisniere; but the Prince of Orange, who commanded 
the left wing of the allies, was repulsed with great slaughter by 
Marshal Bufflers. So great was the disaster that Marlborough 
hastened in person to the scene of it, and restored the battle by 
calling up his reserves. To resist the increasing strength of the 
allies on the left, Marshal Villars detached a large portion of his 
troops from his centre. The quick eye of Marlborough instantly 
discerned the advantage which this error gave him, and he or- 
dered Lord Orkney to concentrate a powerful force upon the 
centre. This skilful movement, effected at the critical moment, 
decided the fortunes of the day. The centre of the French was 
broken. Marshal Villars resolutely led forward his troops again 
and again to the attack, and continued his heroic exertions until 
he was dangerously wounded, and was carried insensible from 
the field. The scene had become one of awful and terrific gran- 
deur. Along the whole line of battle, two miles in extent, the 
fiery flood of musketry and artillery poured over the tumultuous 
hosts, while immense heaps of the dying and the dead encum- 
bered the ground already deluged with torrents of blood. At 
last Marlborough ordered up a grand battery of forty cannon, 
placed in the centre of his army, whose murderous fires were 
soon decisive of the day. The French were mowed down by 
whole battalions in the centre, while their flanks were turned by 
well-directed attacks under the Princes of Orange and Eugene. 
The French commenced a tumultuous retreat, and so great was 
the confusion that they could not be re-formed until they reached 
Valenciennes, twelve miles fi'om the field of battle. 



16 HISTOET OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

The results of the conflict of Malplaquet were of the utmost 
importance. It not only decided the fate of the fortress of Mons, 
but the number of the dead and wounded was unequalled during 
the progress of the war. The allies lost six thousand killed, ten 
thousand wounded. Their entire loss did not fall below twenty 
thousand, being one-fifth of their whole number. The French 
lost in killed and wounded, fourteen thousand men ; but this 
proportion is accounted for by the fact that their troops were 
protected in a great measure by the intrenchments in which 
they were posted at the commencement of the conflict. But 
the moral effect of their defeat was overwhelming. All the 
hopes which Louis XIV. had entertained, that this last heroic 
and desperate effort of his army and people would assure a 
tardy, but still an overwhelming triumph, were disappointed. 
During the winter which ensued, negotiations for peace were 
again resumed ; but the demands of the Dutch were still so ex- 
orbitant that even Louis, humbled, enfeebled, and even terrified 
as he had become, could not so deeply abase himself as to accede 
to them. Accordingly, with the spring of 1710, hostilities were 
again commenced ; the fortress of Douay was besieged by the 
allies and taken, though defended by a strong garrison, and 
though Villars made a diversion in their favor. Fortress after 
fortress fell beneath the attacks of the allies with the most extra- 
ordinary rapidity ; and when the campaign closed, the fortunes 
of Louis were lower, the pride of the Dutch was higher, and the 
real power of Britain was greater, than they had ever been at 
any previous period. 

It would naturally be supposed that the treaty which follow- 
ed this memorable war, in which the most constant and invariable 
success attended the arms of the allies and the English, would 
contain the most humiliating terms for France. The fact was 
widely different ; and the cause of this singular anomaly is to be 
found within the precincts of the palace of the pliant Queen 
Anne. That princess was then ruled by Mrs. Masham as abso- 
lutely, though more amiably, than she had ever been by the Duch- 
ess of Marlborough. This lady had already been dismissed from 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

all her employments in the court. She was no longer the keeper 
of the privy purse, an£ no longer head of the queen's household. 
Mrs. Masham had succeeded to all her offices. The able minis- 
ters who composed the cabinet of the queen — Bolingbroke, Harley, 
and Godolphin — even brought forward against the Duke of Marl- 
borough an accusation of fraud and peculation in the appropria- 
tion of the funds intended for the support of the war. On the 31st 
of December, 1712, he was dismissed from all his civil and mili- 
tary appointments ; and the man who had achieved the most to 
exalt England to the rank of the first nation of Europe, was by 
England consigned to obscurity and disgrace. 

The fall of Marlborough was the salvation of Louis. The de- 
liberations on the terms of the treaty were progressing, when the 
victor in so many battles was hurled from the pinnacle of power 
and glory. Louis now directed his efforts to bribe Mrs. Ma- 
sham the ruling favorite. He succeeded admirably ; he gained 
Mrs. Masham, and Mrs. Masham gained the queen. On the 6th 
of June, 1712, the celebrated treaty of Utrecht was signed by the 
plenipotentiaries of the belligerent powers. England virtually 
gave up all the objects for which the War of the Succession 
had been waged. Louis XIV. was in ecstasies ; he sent Queen 
Anne, as a token of his affectionate regard, a present of six splen- 
did dresses, and five hundred bottles of wine ! The presents 
made to Mrs. Masham, if more valuable, were less notorious. 
Louis through her means escaped from impending ruin. The 
great point respecting which the war had been waged — whether 
the vast dominions which belonged to the Spanish crown should 
or should not be the inheritance of the princes of the Bourbon 
race, was completely abandoned to Louis ; for the allied powers 
expressly contracted that the Duke of Anjou, a Bourbon prince, 
should immediately ascend the Spanish throne. Never had an 
English sovereign and English diplomatists enacted so disgrace- 
ful, so imbecile, and so ruinous a compact.* 

During the remainder of the reign of Queen Anne, the Tories 

* Du Mont, Corps Diplom., torn. VII. 



18 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

ruled the nation. Their majority in both houses of Parliament 
was overwhelming. But the possession c£ absolute power grad- 
ually engendered bitter feuds and jealousies between the members 
of the cabinet, which would have led to new combinations and 
new intrigues, had not the unexpected death of the queen, on the 
1st of August, 1714, suddenly put an end, and that for a long 
succession of years, to the pernicious power and supremacy of the 
Tory party. By an act passed in the preceding reign of William. 
III., the succession of the British crown was now to be diverted 
from the heads of the illustrious and unfortunate race of the 
Stuarts, to that of the less noble but more pliable, and therefore 
more acceptable, house of Hanover. 



PAKT I. 

LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 



CHAPTEK I. 

Origin of the House of Ilanover — History of the Family of Zell — Birth of George I. — 
His Visit to England — His Accession to the Electorate of Hanover — His Marriage — 
Sophia Dorothea of Zell — Her Attachment to Koenigsmark — The Countess Von 
Platen — Her crafty and malicious intrigues — Peculiar Qualities of her Family — The 
Imprudence of Koenigsmark and the Princess Sophia — They determine to elope — 
Discovery of the Plot — Violent and mysterious Death of Koenigsmark— Popular 
Eumors in reference to his Fate. 

The foundations of the modern house of Hanover, more properly- 
termed that of Brunswick-Lunenberg, were laid amid the chaotic 
darkness and turbulent gloom of the eleventh century. In the 
year 1028 Azon d'Este, Marquis of Tuscany, an impoverished 
and adventurous nobleman, entered the service of Conrad, Em- 
peror of Germany. He soon distinguished himself in the wars 
which then raged in the empire ; and he subsequently had the 
good fortune successfully to woo the fair Cunegunda of Guelph, 
who, together with her immense wealth, brought him the power 
and influence which, at that period, were wielded by her illus- 
trious family. 

The fruit of this happy alliance was Robert Guelph, surnamed 
the Robust. This chivalrous prince having arrived at man's 
estate, obtained as his bride the widowed sister-in-law of the 
great Harold. She was the daughter of Baldwin de Lisle, Count 
of Flanders ; and her first husband was the deceased Duke of 
Kent. This union obtained the approbation of Henry IV., Em- 



20 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

peror of Germany ; and to prove his partiality for his favorites 
he deprived Otho, Duke of Saxony, of the possession of Bavaria, 
and conferred it upon Robert Guelph. This munificent gift re- 
mained in the hands of his descendants, until his great-grandson j o 
forfeited it by his rebellion against the Emperor Frederic Bar- 
barossa. Subsequently by means of the efficient intercession 
of the brother-in-law of the rebel, Henry II. of England, the j 
unfortunate Guelph was invested with the Countships of Bruns- 
wick and Lunenberg by the Emperor Otho IV. That generous 
monarch in the year 1200 elevated these domains to the higher 
dignity, prerogatives, and title of a duchy. 

The Brunswick princes having thus resumed their place 
among the petty potentates and nobility of the Teutonic empire, 
their provinces descended from one generation to another in 
quiet and orderly succession ; and nothing either of superior 
distinction or of singular misfortune occurred during several cen- 
turies to signalize their career, or to render their vicissitudes 
worthy of special notice. The family were united, separated, 
and transferred by various marriages to the surrounding princes, 
at different times ; and thus the several branches of Bruns- 
wick-TV" olfenbiittel, Brunswick-Zell, Brunswick-Dannenberg were 
brought into existence. In the fifteenth century Duke Bernard 
exchanged his Duchy of Brunswick for that of Lunenberg ; and 
thus established that particular branch from which have descend- 
ed the present reigning family of the British Empire.* 

The great-grandfather of George I. — William, Duke of Bruns- 
wick-Lunenberg — had seven sons. These astute German princes 
readily perceived that, if they all contracted the responsibilities of 
marriage, the revenues of their province would be utterly insuffi- 
cient' to meet the expenses which the proper maintenance of their 
ducal dignity would entail ; and they adopted the prudent deter- 

* The most reliable and minute details respecting the early history of the 
House of Hanover, both of the portion of it which was located in Germany, and 
of that which remained in Italy, are to be found in Eccard's Origines Guelficce, 
Muratori's Antichita Estense, Halliday's Annals of the House of Hanover, and 
Gibbon's Posthumous Works. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE FIRST. 21 

nination not to form any matrimonial connections, but to draw 
ots to determine which one of their number should inherit the 
Pectoral dignity, should subsequently marry, and should thus 
jontinue the succession. The choice fell upon the sixth son, 
jeorge, who thus became the head of the family, and subse- 
quently the husband of Anne Eleanor, daughter of the Landgrave 
>f Hesse-Darmstadt. The fruit of this union was Frederic Au- 
gustus. In 1658 this prince married Sophia, the daughter of the 
King of Bohemia. Their eldest child, George Lewis, was he whose 
brtunate destiny it was to elevate this petty race of German 
Drinces in his own person to the sovereignty of the British realms. 
The ancestors of the Princess of Zell whom the Crown Prince 
}f Hanover subsequently married, were fugitives from France at 
the ignominious epoch of the revocation of the edict of Nantes 
by Louis XIV. Among the many noble Protestant families who 
then sought safety by flight in a foreign land was that of Alex- 
ander d'Esmiers, Marquis d'Olbreuse, a native and inhabitant of 
Poictiers. The chief consolation of this person's exile, and the 
most valuable wealth which he possessed, was his only daughter 
Eleanora, who accompanied him. He took refuge in Brussels ; 
and in the gay circles of that capital the young and fair Huguenot 
soon became celebrated for her unrivalled beauty, her intelli- 
gence, and her accomplishments. She was received into the suite 
of the fascinating Duchess of Tarento ; but she excelled all her 
associates, her rivals, and even her mistress in the potency and 
attractiveness of her charms. Eleanora subsequently married 
the Duke of Zell, by a morganatic arrangement which made her 
Ins wife in the eyes of the church, but not in the estimation of 
the law, and which neither secured her the privileges of his rank 
nor the inheritance of his possessions. The first offspring of this 
union was Sophia Dorothea of Zell, who was born in December 
1666, and was destined to a singular and melancholy fate. 

George Lewis, the comparatively insignificant prince whose 
unviable fortune it became, to ascend from the government of an 
obscure province in Germany to the throne of one of the great- 



22 HISTORY OF THE TOUR GEORGES. 

est empires in the world, under the title of George I. — was born 
fit the city of Hanover, on the 28th of May, 1660. He was the 
eldest son of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover, and Sophia 
Stuart, daughter of Frederic, the Elector Palatine, and grand- 
daughter of James I. of England. The "boyhood and youth of 
the prince were spent, without any peculiarity of incident, at his 
father's court. He there received the routine of instruction 
usually prevalent among princes of that era ; though the pre- 
dominating quality of his training was military. For this de- 
partment of science he exhibited not only a strong predilection,) 
but also some capacity. "When he arrived at man's estate, he' 
enlisted in the service of the Emperor of Germany against the 
Turks ; and somewhat distinguished himself during the three 
campaigns which he made in Hungary. He also acquired celeb 
rity in the war which subsequently raged between the Emperor 
and the King of France. 

In 1681 the Crown Prince visited England as a suitor for 
the hand of the Princess Anne. On his way thither he had an 
interview with the Prince of Orange at the Hague ; confided to 
him the secret purpose of his journey ; and requested his good 
offices in the advancement of his suit. But no sooner had he 
taken his departure than William, who was intensely opposed to 
the accomplishment of such a union, as it would seriously inter- 
fere with his own ambitious designs, instantly set to work and 
started three separate yet cooperative intrigues against the Crown 
Prince. One of these was centred in London, another in Hano- 
ver, and the third at Zell. It is not singular that so profound a 
statesman, and so crafty a tactician as William of Orange, should 
easily defeat the purposes of so simple and incapable a diplo- 
matist as the Crown Prince of Hanover. 

On the arrival of George in England, information Avas con- 
veyed to King Charles II. that the German Prince, who still 
remained on board his vessel, was lying patiently in the road 
off Greenwich, waiting to be invited to court. Apartments were 
immediately prepared for him at Whitehall, and a public au- 
dience was granted him the next day. When he was in 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 23 

troduced to the Princess Anne he saluted her with a kiss ; to 
perform which bold and chivalrous act he had received the king's 
permission. He spent four months in England, and endeavored 
to little or no purpose to produce some tender impression on 
the heart of the princess. He was welcomed to the University 
of Cambridge, and honorary degrees were there lavished upon 
him and the chief members of his suite. The father of the 
Princess seemed to take but little interest in the matter ; he 
neither encouraged nor opposed the matrimonial offer of the 
Crown Prince. But the intrigues and influence of William of 
Orange seem to have been more efficacious than the indifference 
of Anne, or the ardent wooings of her suitor. George soon per- 
ceived that his efforts were hopeless, and was preparing to 
abandon all further solicitations, when he was suddenly sum- 
moned to return to Hanover. Two years after his departure 
Anne was married to the Prince of Denmark. 

On the death of his father in 1700 the Crown Prince suc- 
ceeded to the Electorate of Hanover. In 1701 he marched to 
the assistance of the Duke of Holstein against the King of Den- 
mark, and eventually compelled the Danish troops to raise the 
siege of Tonningen. He then joined the alliance which was sub- 
sequently formed against the French monarch, and he induced 
his relatives, the princes of the house of Wolfenbuttel, to aban- 
don their connection with France. In 1707 after the glorious 
victory of the allies at Blenheim, the Elector of Hanover was 
intrusted with the supreme command of the armies of the 
Emperor of Germany ; and he performed the duties of this re- 
sponsible and difficult post during three successive campaigns, 
with no inconsiderable degree of success and distinction. He 
then resigned, in consequence of the jealousies and discords of 
the generals who were appointed to serve under him. At the 
peace of Eastadt Louis XIV. was compelled to recognize the 
electoral dignity in the house of Brunswick-Lunenberg, as well 
as the right of the elector of Hanover to the succession to the 
British throne. That indisputable claim was based upon an act 
of the British parliament passed in 1700, during the latter part 



24 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

of the reign of William III. limiting the succession of the crown, 
after the death of Queen Anne without issue, to the electress 
Sophia of Hanover, and to the heirs of her body who were at- 
tached to the Protestant religion.* 

A considerable degree of romantic interest is associated with 
the early matrimonial experiences of the Crown Prince of Hano- 
ver. In 1682 he married his cousin Sophia Dorothea, as already 
narrated. The princess was only sixteen years of age when this 
unfortunate union took place. The lady was remarkable for her ■ 
vivacious and excitable disposition, which she had inherited from 
her mother ; as well as for the elegance of her manners, and the 
beauty of her person. At the diminutive yet very gay court of 
Zell, she had been brought up to habits of coquetry, and even 
perhaps of gallantry. In no respects was this imaginative and 
fascinating creature adapted to the sober, dull, and heavy prince 
who had become her husband ; and it very soon became evident 
that their marriage would prove a very unhappy, or at least a 
very uncongenial one. While the Crown Prince amused himself 
in his palace, and more especially when he was absent in the 
wars, his wife indulged in every species of frivolity and elegant 
dissipation. In a short time she allowed herself a still more 
inexcusable degree of liberty ; for her rank, her beauty, her 
accomplishments, and her wit naturally rendered her the object jt] 
of the amorous regard of several of the most accomplished and 
noble gallants of the day, who happened then to reside at the 
court of Hanover. 

These suitors were not long permitted to sigh in vain ; but 
soon the preference of the princess was fixed entirely on the ac- 
complished and agreeable Count Philip von Koenigsmark, whose 



* Sophia was a woman of superior talent, and of great energy of char- 
acter. She had the head of a statesman and philosopher on the shoulders of a 
beautiful woman ; and the passage of the Act of Succession by the British Par- 
liament was in a great measure the result of the long-continued, skilful, and 
masterly intrigues which, during the progress of many years, she carried on 
with the leading minds in the British Government. See Hannoverische Hof 
iinter dem Kurf. Ernst August, unci der Kurfurstin Sophie ; von Dr. C. E. von 
Malortie. Hanover, 1847. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 25 

remarkable graces of person were celebrated not only in his own 
day, but have been commemorated for the wonder and praise of 
succeeding generations. This young nobleman was descended 
from an illustrious and chivalrous race. The Koenigsmarks were 
originally an ancient Brandenberg family. The name was first 
rendered celebrated by Field-Marshal John Christopher Koenigs- 
mark, who commanded with great distinction under Gustavus 
Adolphus in the Thirty Years' War. After the termination of 
that tremendous and sanguinary contest by the peace of West- 
phalia, the old field-marshal was made governor of Bremen and 
Verden ; and he died at an advanced age, possessed of a great 
lame and a princely estate. All his descendants were remark- 
ible for their extreme personal beauty. His granddaughter 
Maria Aurora von Koenigsmark was one of the most accom- 
plished and fascinating women of her time ; was the mistress of 
he chivalrous Augustus King of Poland and Elector of Saxony ; 
md became by him the mother of the celebrated Marshal Saxe * 
3ut remarkable as this lady was for her personal charms she 
vas surpassed in this respect by her younger brother Count 
hilip, upon whom the wife of the future King of England be- 
itowed her ardent and impassioned affections. 

Philip von Koenigsmark was born in 1662. His mother was 
he daughter of Count Wrangel, the favorite general and noblest 
:ourtier of the Swedish hero. His father was an officer in the 
Dutch service, who, after becoming distinguished for his military 
alents, was killed at the siege of Bonn in 1673. Philip had been 

* After the connection which existed between Aurora Koenigsmark and Au- 
;ustus ceased, she retired to the Protestant Abbey of Quedlinburg, in Lower 
laxony, and there spent the latter portion of her life in religious exercises, and 
i literary pursuits. She wrote many " Meditations " which are remarkable for 
heir intellectual and spiritual excellence. She became eventually the abbess 
f the institution, and under her auspices it acquired a widely-spread celebrity, 
t existed till 1802, when it was suppressed. It is asserted on good authority 
aat when this royal brute, the Elector of Saxony, died, he left behind him a 
ongregation of three hundred and fifty-two illegitimate children, whose mothers 
elonged to every rank and situation in life ; for none of whom or their offspring 
ad he made the least provision. Madame George Sand (Dudevant), the dis- 
nguished French writer, claims to be a direct descendant of Marshal Saxe. 
2 



St 



26 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

brought up at the court of Zell ; and already in his boyhood had ; A 
been an admirer of the young Princess Sophia. Nor was his < K 
passion even then unreturned ; but young Koenigsmark, in com- 
pany with his brother Charles John, was suddenly sent off to 
England where they resided for some time at the dissolute court 
of Charles II. While in England both of these young men were 
connected with several scenes of violence and turbulence, by 
which they became very nearly involved in severe judicial punish- 
ments. In 1685 the brothers returned to the continent. Charles 
Koenigsmark was shortly afterward killed, fighting against the 
Turks in the Morea. His brother Philip, led by an unpropitious 
fate, returned to Hanover, took service under the Elector Ernest 
Augustus, and again resumed his habits of intimacy with the 
Princess Sophia, then the wife of the Crown Prince George.* 

Their guilty intercourse was destined, after a considerable 
period of secret indulgence, to meet with a horrible and disas- 
trous termination. The lovers frequently met ; nor was their 
conduct controlled by much prudence.f The princess sometimes <P: 
even visited Koenigsmark at his hotel. She frankly assured him 
in one of her letters, that if he thought that the fear of exposure, 
or of losing her reputation, would prevent her from seeing him, 
he did her heart great injustice ; that his society and his love were \f 
to her more precious than her life ! The deportment of the lovers 
was in accordance with such extravagant expressions of feeling. 
Obtuse and indifferent as was the nature of the Crown Prince, I 
this connection did not escape his own notice, and that of the 
vigilant and jealous courtiers. Among the most malignant and to 
artful of the latter was the Countess von Platen ; a woman of 
strong passions and profound craft, who had herself made tender i for 
advances to Koenigsmark, which had been by him repelled. He 
had also added an unnecessary intensity to her hatred, by boast- lit] 
ing in public both of his intimacy with the princess, and of his Jcoi 
supreme contempt for Von Platen. The latter having heard of I 

* Vide Archdeacon Coze's Life of Sir Robert Walpole, Vol. I., p. 267. 

t In one of his impassioned letters which may be quoted as a sample of the 
rest, Koenigsmark writes : " Demain a dix lieures je serai au rendezvous ;" and 
adds more ardently, " Mbn ange, c'estpour toi seule que je vive et qusje respire." "* 



k 



h 



■'<< 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE FIRST. 27 

this vaunting impudence, vowed to be avenged upon the hand- 
some count, as well as upon her more favored rival ; and she 
set about the task of realizing her purpose. 

The intense enmity which the fiendish and perfidious Coun- 
tess Von Platen entertained toward the Crown Princess had 
idditional and less honorable causes. The latter, by her amia- 
bility and affectionate deportment toward her father-in-law, the old 
elector, had secured his good-will, and her praises were constantly 
lpon his tongue. Von Platen was the superannuated mistress 
)f the venerable elector ; and she became fearful that she 
night lose her supreme influence over her ancient lover, if his 
iaughter-in-law secured so large a share of his affection. Accord- 
ngly she infused into his mind doubts respecting the faithfulness 
)f the princess to her husband ; and retailed with exaggerated 
tatements all she knew about the intimacy which existed be- 
,ween the princess and Koenigsmark. Nor did this malignant 
vretch stop here. She threw her artful toils around the Crown 
Prince himself; and supplied him, her own aged charms being 
aded and impotent, with a new mistress who was not only her 
elative, but her most obsequious tool. It was on this occasion 
hat she introduced to his acquaintance the celebrated " May- 
)ole," the prodigiously tall and towering Melusina von Schulem- 
>erg. The most potent art by which she managed the prince was 
lattery ; while to this accomplishment she added some ability in 
musing his narrow and common-place mind. The consequences 
f these and other influences which Von Platen skilfully directed 
ras, that soon the unfortunate princess lost the affection and even 
he esteem of her husband, who at length treated her with pos- 
tive rudeness and insult. The birth of a son in 1683, and of a 
laughter in 1684, produced no permanent improvement in their 
elations ; and even in the palace itself the unhappy princess was 
ompelled to encounter the bold, crafty, and unblushing mis- 
resses of the Crown Prince.* 

But the grand climax of Von Platen's revenge both upon the 

* Tt is a remarkable circumstance that this family of the Von Platens fur- 
ished mistresses to the princes of the Electoral House of Hanover, unmter- 



28 HISTOKY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

princess and upon the Count Von Koenigsmark, yet remained to 
be achieved ; and she patiently waited for a favorable and pro- 
pitious moment. 

The imprudent lovers themselves unfortunately furnished 
their enemy with what she most ardently desired. They had 
adopted the desperate resolution to escape together, first to 
Hamburg and thence into France. On the first of July, 1694, 
at eleven o'clock at night, Koenigsmark paid a secret visit to the 
princess in her apartment in the palace, for the purpose of making ; 
the last arrangements previous to their flight. He was disguised 
on this occasion in the simple attire of a tradesman. His ser- 
vants and carriages were then waiting for them at the rear of 
the palace garden, ready to start instantly for Dresden. All 
these secret plans had been detected by the malignant shrewdness 
and vigilance of the Countess Von Platen ; and she eagerly seized 
the opportunity both to gratify her own vengeance, and to vindi- 
cate the outraged honor of the electoral family.* 

This last interview between the lovers was protracted much I 
longer than propriety and prudence dictated. Already had the 
faithful female attendant of the princess, the Fraulein von Knese- 
beck, knocked twice at her door and urged them to separate. J 
At length their preparations or their dalliance being terminated, 
Koenigsmark left the apartment of the princess, and traversed a 
long corridor which led through the palace, till he came to a 
small door in the rear, which opened into the garden. This door 
he expected to find as usual unlocked ; but it was at that time 
bolted. He then returned, and passed along another corridor 

ruptedly, during the progress of three-quarters of a century. The first countess 
spoken of in the text was the mistress of Ernst Augustus. Her daughter, 
Madame Kielmansegge, was the mistress of his son the Crown Prince ; while the 
same disgraceful relation was borne toward him by Kielmansegge's sister, 
Madame von Busche, and by her niece the Countess Walmoden, afterward cre- 
ated the Countess of Yarmouth. 

* See Denkwurdigheiten der Grafin Maria Aurora von koenigsmark und der 
Koenigsmarkschen Familie. nach iihisher unbekannten Quellen. Von Br. Fried- 
erich Cramer. 2 JSdnde, 8vo, Leipzig, 1836. This interesting and valuable work 
contains the most complete information which is accessible in reference to the 
celebrated and really remarkable family of the Koenigsmarks. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 29 

till he came to an ante-room which was built over the court- 
chapel, in which there was an immense chimney constructed for 
the purpose of receiving the smoke from the apparatus which 
heated the chapel. In this dark recess four armed halberdiers 
had been stationed by the command of the prince, at the sugges- 
tion of Von Platen ; and when the unsuspecting Koenigsmark 
approached them, thoughtlessly humming a tune, he was sud- 
denly and furiously attacked. He drew his sword and defended 
himself bravely for some time ; but being overpowered by su- 
perior numbers he was mortally wounded. He was immediately 
dragged into an adjoining apartment, where his deadly enemy the 
countess awaited him. As soon as Koenigsmark beheld her, he 
collected his remaining strength, and overwhelmed her with 
curses. To these the indignant woman responded by stamping 
fiercely with her feet upon that bleeding face whose handsome 
features she had once so ardently admired. Before life was 
entirely extinct, the body was hurried into a small cellar, which 
could be filled with water by means of a pipe. There the un- 
happy count was drowned ; and the next morning his remains 
were buried in an oven in the vaults of the palace, which was 
afterward securely walled up. Such was the sad termination of 
the brilliant career of one of the most gallant and accomplished 
courtiers of his time.* 

* The authority from which these horrible details respecting the fate of Philip 
von Koenigsmark are derived, is a recent erudite and reliable work entitled, 
Geschichte der Hofe des Hauses Braunschweig in Deutschland und England, von 
Dr. Edward VeTisc. 4 Bdnde, Hamburg, 1853. It is true that several different 
versions have been given of the mode of Koenigsmark's death, which vary very 
considerably. Thus Horace Walpole asserts, in one of his letters, that the 
count was strangled in the princess's dressing-room ; that his body was buried 
under the floor of that apartment ; and that when George II. subsequently visited 
Hanover, his remains were found in consequence of some alterations which were 
made in the electoral palace. Either version is sufficiently horrible ; and all ac- 
counts agree harmoniously on one point, that the fiendish malice of the Countess 
von Platen was the cause both of the murder of Koenigsmark and the disgrace 
and misery of the young princess. But the narrative given by Walpole is the more 
improbable from the fact that, had it been true, the princess would have been 
able to ascertain the mode of her lover's death, as well as the place where his 
remains had been deposited ; and she would have communicated her information 
to Aurora at Dresden, through whom it would have become immediately and 
universally known. 



CHAPTER II. 

Imprisonment of the Crown Princess— Her formal separation from her Husband — Evi- 
dences of her Guilt — Her mode of life at Ahlden — Her Memoirs — Accession of her 
Husband to the British Throne — nis indifference on the subject — His arrival in 
England — State of Parties at that time— Doctrines of the "Whigs and Tories — The 
Government in the hands of the Whigs — Coronation of George I. — Proceedings in 
Parliament— Violence of Parties— The Eoyal Mistresses— First Visit of George I. to 
Hanover — Hostility between the King and Heir Apparent. 

The sudden and mysterious disappearance of Koenigsmark ex- 
cited much astonishment in Hanover. The most extraordinary 
reports became prevalent respecting it. His sister, the Countess 
Aurora, induced her royal lover Augustus of Saxony to institute 
the most rigorous researches into his fate. To a direct question 
from her emissary on the subject, the Elector of Hanover rudely 
replied that he was not her brother's keeper. At length the 
Court of Dresden succeeded by dint of heavy bribes in discov- 
ering J;he fate of the count, as narrated in the preceding chapter. 
The Crown Princess Sophia, as soon as she learned the terrible 
details abandoned herself to the most intense paroxysms of indig- 
nation and grief. She declared her determination to live no 
longer among such bloodthirsty murderers and assassins. She 
even attempted to destroy herself. Her violent conduct, and the 
fierce reproaches which she hurled at her husband and her father- 
in-law, widened the unfriendly breach which already existed be- 
tween them ; and the scandal of this family quarrel became noto- 
rious. Proceedings were then instituted for a separation, and 
the princess was ultimately condemned to imprisonment for life. 
She solemnly denied her guilt under oath, as did also her lady- 
in-waiting ; but the recent publication of the confidential letters 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FIRST. 31 

of the lovers clearly proves the falsehood of their asseverations of 
innocence.* The formal separation between the Crown Prince 
and his wife took place in Hanover on the 28th of October, 
1694. The latter was at that time twenty -eight years of age. 
She was immediately conveyed to the fortress of Ahlden, situated 
a few miles from Zell, in the territory of her father. There she 
was at first closely confined, though she was allowed every com- 
fort and luxury which she desired, f 

The faithful friend and confidant of the princess, the Fraulein 
von Knesebeck, Avas imprisoned in the castle of Schwartzfels, in 
the Hartz mountains. After a captivity of some years this lady 
succeeded in making her escape. She was let down from the 
window of her apartment by means of a rope, by an ancient and 
devoted servant who had obtained access to her. She fled first 
to Wolfenbuttel, and thence to Berlin, where she was received 
into the service of the Queen of Prussia, the daughter of her mis- 
tress. The imprisonment of the Princess Sophia continued dur- 
ing the long period of thirty-two years. Her revenues were 
considerable ; and she spent them in the maintenance of a select 
and agreeable circle of friends around her, consisting of several 
gentlemen and ladies. The commandant of the fortress dined 
with her regularly every day. She employed and amused her- 
self chiefly with the management of her estates, with needle- 
work, with reading, and with the society of her chosen associates. 

* These letters, after the lapse of a century and a half, were published by 
Professor Palmblad in Upsala, Sweden, in 1847. Their genuineness is estab- 
lished by the learned editor beyond a doubt ; and with the genuineness of the 
letters the guilt of their authors becomes clearly evident. 

+ She was not allowed to enjoy the society of her two children. Her son 
George Augustus, afterward George II. of England, was then ten years old, and 
her daughter, Sophia Dorothea, who afterward married the Prince of Prussia, 
was two years younger., During the infancy of these children their mother had 
always exhibited the utmost affection and solicitude for them which the progress 
of time and the influence of absence never diminished. In 1710 her daughter 
was married to Frederic William, Crown Prince of Prussia. In January, 1712, 
this lady gave birth to a son, afterward celebrated as Frederic the Great. Her 
husband proved to be a greater brute and ruffian than her father, and rendered 
her whole life a succession of anxieties and miseries. 



32 HISTORY OF THE FOTJK GEOEGES. 

She was allowed to drive out occasionally from the fortress, at- 
tended by an escort. "When the elector ascended the throne of 
England as George I. a proposition was made to her "by a com- 
mission of learned jurists, to accept her liberty and accompany 
him. To this offer she replied with great spirit and with some 
truth, that if she were guilty of the crimes with which she had 
been charged, she was unworthy to share her husband's throne, 
and if she were innocent he was undeserving of her society, and 
even of her friendship ; therefore in either case she would remain 
at Ahlden. Some years later however, the princess changed her 
mind, and endeavored to make her escape from the fortress. 
She gave a certain Count de Bar a hundred and thirty thousand 
florins to aid her in her flight. This vile wretch having obtained 
possession of the bribe betrayed her ; and the baseness of this 
treason, together with the consequent exposure and mortification, 
disturbed her repose for the remainder of her life. 

During her imprisonment the Princess Sophia Dorothea 
wrote her personal memoirs* This work commenced with the 
return of Philip von Koenigsmark to Hanover in 1685, and con- 
tinued until the last illness of the authoress in the castle of 
Ahlden. The purpose of this production was to vindicate the in- 
nocence of the princess ; but no effort of specious ingenuity nor 
of plausible reasoning has ever been able to purify her tarnished 
fame, or convince mankind that she was an injured and a blame- 
less woman. Yet it must be admitted in justice to the princess, 
that her conduct was in no respect worse than that of her hus- 
band ; that he gave her the first example of infidelity and licen- 
tiousness ; that he had not only one acknowledged paramour but 
many ; and that, whatever might be the abstract demands of 
morality and religion in the premises, he at least had no right to 

* This production was entitled : Precis de mon Destin et de ma Prison. A 
German edition of the work appeared at Hamburg in 1840, and an English version 
in 1845, under the title — A short Account of My Fate and My Prison. The lat- 
ter contains also a narrative written by Fraulein von Knesebeck addressed to 
the Crown Princess of Prussia, one of the daughters of her unfortunate mis- 
tress. The second volume contains the " Diary of Conversations " of the talented 
and accomplished prisoner of Ahlden. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 33 

demand a higher degree of virtue from his wife than that which 
he himself displayed. 

Had the mother of the Elector George, the Electress 
Sophia Stuart, survived but two months longer she would have 
inherited the English crown ; for Queen Anne died on the 12th 
of August, 1714, and the Electress on the 8th of June previous. 
The latter had reached the great age of eighty-six. On the even- 
ing of the day of her death she walked as was her custom with 
her son in the garden of her palace at Herrenhausen ; a shower 
of rain came on suddenly, and to escape it she ran into the 
palace. The moment she entered she fell to the floor in an 
apoplectic fit, and soon expired. She had earnestly yet vainly 
desired to obtain the honor of having inscribed upon her tomb 
the sounding title : " Sophia Queen of England," for premature 
death anticipated her ambitious wish. 

Immediately after the demise of Queen Anne the British 
privy-council met, and three instruments were produced which 
had been executed by the Elector. By these he appointed several 
of his most devoted adherents to be added as lord-justices to the 
seven great officers of the kingdom. Orders were then issued 
for proclaiming the Elector of Hanover King of England, Scot- 
land and Ireland. Lord Clarendon, the British minister at the 
court of Hanover, was the first to carry to the Elector the news 
of his accession. The British Regency appointed the Earl of 
Dorset to convey the official announcement of this event to the 
monarch, and to attend him on his journey to his new dominions. 
They despatched the general officers in whom they could confide 
to their respective posts, and appointed the accomplished Addi 
son Secretary of State. To insult and mortify the late ministry 
which had been supreme during the reign of Anne, Lord Boling- 
broke was compelled to wait morning after morning in the ante- 
room among the servants, with his portfolio under his arm, 
while persons selected for the purpose heaped indignities of all 
sorts upon him. 

It is evident that, when the great and onerous dignity to 
which he had fallen heir stared George I. closely in the face, he 
2* 



34: HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

viewed it with no very enthusiastic sentiments. He was per- 
fectly sensible of the vexations and troubles which it would en- 
tail upon him. He had arrived at the mature age of fifty-four 
years ; and was much attached to his native Hanover, where the 
business of government was a tranquil and easy task when com- 
pared with the same functions in the powerful, turbulent, and 
ambitious realm to which he was invited. He viewed his de- 
parture thither with reluctance. One evidence of this fact is fur- 
nished by a letter written by Marshal Schulenberg to Baron * 
Steinghaus,* the ambassador at that period of the Palatinate to 
the Court of London, in which he thus expresses himself : " It is 
quite evident that George is profoundly indifferent to the result 
of this question of the succession. Nay, I would even bet that 
when it really comes to the point, he will be in despair at having 
to give up his place of residence, where he amuses himself with I 
trifles, in order to assume a post of honor and dignity. He is I 
endowed with all the qualities adapted to make him a finished 
nobleman, but he wants all those which are necessary to consti- 
tute a king." There is no doubt that George was conscious that 
he would meet with much trouble and annoyance, in his new 
position. He went from a small province where the sovereign 
ruled with almost absolute authority, to a great empire where 
there were many princes who had been his equals in point of 
wealth, who might have surpassed his former condition in every 
element of opulence and grandeur ; where there were many tal- 
ented, resolute and unscrupulous statesmen ; where there were 
several powerful and hostile parties ; where the prerogatives of 
the crown were shorn, by the jealousy of the nation, of nearly 
all their independence and authority ; and where unfriendly wits, 
politicians, and writers of every grade of talent and influence, 
were ready to overwhelm the heavy and awkward German in- 
truder into the seat of their ancient Tudors and Plantagenets, 
with continual floods of satire and abuse. 

Accordingly, George postponed his departure to England for 

* Dated 10th of August, 1714, only two days before the death of Queen Anne, 
which was then confidently expected. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE FIEST. 35 

a whole month. At length the eager expectation of his new sub- 
jects permitted no further delay. He left his favorite retreat 
at Herrenhauscn on the 11th of September, accompanied by 
his son, and his daughter-in-law, Caroline of Anspach. The rest 
of his family followed in the succeeding October. It was a sin- 
gular circumstance that the Elector of Hanover should have been 
chosen to ascend the vacant throne of England, while there were 
actually at that moment fifty-four members of reigning houses 
in Europe, all of whom possessed a better title to that throne 
than he. But of all those who possessed claims upon the Brit- 
ish crown by the ordinary and established laws of regular or col- 
lateral succession, Sophia Stuart, the mother of George I., the 
daughter of Elizabeth of Bohemia, and sister of Charles I., was 
the only one who was attached to the Protestant religion. It 
was in her favor, therefore, that the act of Parliament was passed 
during the reign of William III. already referred to ; and George 
I. was wise or selfish enough not to invalidate his claim, or the 
title of his children, by adopting the detested superstition of 
Rome.* The religion, indeed, of the new sovereign of Britain, 
was to him a matter of small concern as far as regarded his con- 
science ; for he was accompanied to England with an array of 
the most singular mistresses who ever disgraced a monarch. 
Their peculiarities and their repulsiveness to all other people, 
very soon attracted the notice and the ridicule of his new subjects. 
The immensely fat Countess of Keilmansegge was nicknamed 
the " Elephant." The tall and slender Madame Schulenberg was 
known as the " May-pole." Other titles were invented for the 
other royal favorites equally significant ; and when the king shut 
himself up every evening in their society, as he was known to do, 
a fresh deluge of caricatures and satires was issued, which flood- 
ed the streets of the metropolis, and furnished sources of merri- 
ment to millions.f 

* Another virtue which George possessed of no inconsiderable importance in 
the eyes of the British nation, was his bitter hostility to France, and his jealousy 
of the vaunting power and grandeur of Louis the Fourteenth. This peculiarity 
had also been one of the chief recommendations of the Prince of Orange. 

t It is now clearly ascertained that George I. was secretly married to this 



36 HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

When George I. arrived in England, he found himself the 
elected sovereign not of a whole people, but only of a triumphant 
faction. The English nation were at that period divided into 
two parties possessing about equal numbers and resources, whose 
political ardor and rancor were equally intense, and whose 
mutual hostility or antagonism was irreconcilable. These par- 
ties were known as Whigs and Tories. The latter had been 
in power during the reign of Queen Anne, which had just termi- 
nated. The former being the main supporters of the Hanoverian 
succession, obtained the chief control of affairs immediately upon 
the accession of the Elector. The differences which divided, and 
the opinions which characterized these two great parties at this 
crisis, may be thus briefly stated : 

The Whigs asserted, as their fundamental principle, that civil 
government was an institution of human origin and authority, 
which accorded with the teachings of the scriptures on the sub- 
ject, and which was essentially necessary to the happiness and 
security of mankind. The prerogatives, therefore, which the 
ruler possessed, were only a trust obtained from the people ; 
and hence it followed that the former was directly responsible 
to the latter, for the proper exercise of the authority with which 
he was invested, and liable, like every one else in a similar posi- 
tion, to be punished for the neglect or abuse of his functions. 
The Whigs further contended, that there were certain inalienable 
rights which all men possessed, for the preservation of which 
government was alone established ; and that the chief of these 
was the privilege of worshipping God, not according to pre- 
scribed laws and usages, but according to the unbiased dictates 
of one's own conscience. They thus maintained the great princi- 

lady " by the left hand ; " an arrangement which was frequent among the petty 
princes of Germany, for the purpose of gratifying passion without incurring the 
disgrace of prostitution. This fact is proved by a letter from Etough to Dr. 
Birch, preserved in the British Museum, which states that the ceremony was 
performed by the Archbishop of York. See Add. MSS. Brit. Mus., 4326, B. Lady 
Mary Wortley Montagu says respecting this lady : " She was duller than the 
King, and consequently did not find out that he was so." See Works of Lady 
M. W. Montagu, lord Warndife's M., Vol. I., p. 210. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 37 

pie of toleration as a matter of justice, and not of charity or 
favor ; and they insisted that it was wrong to inflict civil dis- 
abilities or personal penalties upon men in consequence of a di- 
versity of religious opinions and observances. 

All these doctrines the Tories rejected and condemned with 
the utmost vehemence, not only as false in themselves, but as 
being subversive of the welfare and even the existence of all 
government. Their principle was, that government was express- 
ly ordained of God, and that from him alone princes and sover- 
eigns derived all their authority. To him alone, therefore, they 
were responsible for the exercise of their prerogatives. They 
condemned all resistance to the will of the sovereign as being 
ipso facto resistance to the will of God ; that though when the 
commands of the ruler were directly in contradiction to the 
commands of God, the subject need not implicitly obey the for- 
mer ; yet it is his duty to suffer passively all the consequences 
which may result from his disobedience, and full submission 
to the will of the sovereign was at all times and under all cir- 
cumstances commendable and obligatory. The Tories did not 
deny, indeed, that it was the duty of the sovereign to do his 
utmost to promote the happiness and welfare of his subjects, as 
being the chief end and purpose of government ; but if he neglected 
this duty, if he sought only to promote his own aggrandizement 
and security, if he trampled the most precious rights of his peo- 
ple in the dust, if he made the machinery of government an in- 
strument only of outrage, injustice, and tyranny, and defied all 
laws and obligations, human and divine ; there was, as they con- 
tended, no possible or allowable remedy for the evil, except pas- 
sive obedience, humble remonstrance, and earnest supplication. 
They further contended that it was the duty of the subject to 
believe in that system of doctrines, to adopt those credenda, and 
to conform to that mode of worship, which the government au- 
thorized and enjoined. They held that the exercise of private 
opinion in matters of religion, in opposition to the combined au- 
thority of the established church and state, was both presumptu- 



38 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

ous, dangerous and culpable * The Tories were the secret ad- 
herents of the House of Stuart ; they only obeyed the intruder, the 
Prince of Orange, as a king de facto, and not as a king de jure. 
And on the same principle they submitted to the accession of the 
House of Hanover, as being an unavoidable necessity which they 
did not possess the power if they had the inclination, to resist. 

The Whig party, on the contrary, had been the firm sup- 
porters of the House of Orange, and were now the equally ardent 
partisans of the House of Hanover. They regarded the title of 
George I. as clearly and legitimately established by the expressed 
will of the nation. That great and now triumphant party num- 
bered among its adherents all the Dissenters in the kingdom, of 
every denomination; nor was this element of influence and 
strength by any means an insignificant one, for the Dissenters 
possessed an immense amount of learning, wealth, and influence 
throughout the nation. 

George I. landed at Greenwich on the 18th of September, 
1714. His public entry into the city of London took place on 
the 20th, and was characterized by great magnificence. As far 
as appearances went, he seemed to meet with a joyful welcome 
from the vast majority of his new subjects. Various circum- 
stances appeared to indicate that his accession was regarded by 
the nation as a propitious event. Thus the day before Queen 
Anne expired, a false report became current that she was already 
dead. The public funds immediately rose four per cent., but in 
the afternoon, when the falsehood of the report was known, they 
fell again to their former value. On his entry into London, the 
new monarch delivered a speech to the municipal authorities, in 
which he expressed his regard for the happiness of his subjects, 
and his honest purpose to promote their interests to the extent 
of his ability. The poets of the day, especially those who 

* Vide " Decree of the University of Oxford, passed in full convocation July 
21st, 1683, and presented to the King Charles II. on July 2ith, by the Vice- Chan- 
cellor, Doctors, Proctors, and Masters Begent and Kot-Begent, &c. Oxford, 1683." 
This decree condemns all the leading doctrines asserted by the Whigs, and as- 
cribed to them in the text. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 39 

were attached to the Whig party, deluged the metropolis with 
iloods of jingling praise and congratulation.* All the great cor- 
porations of the three kingdoms also sent their addresses of con- 
gratulation to the king, whom they termed the benefactor, the 
father, the saviour of his people. 

But notwithstanding these outward and simulated displays 
Df joy, the nation was ill at ease. The mutual enmities of the 
two great parties were intense and implacable. Personal abuse 
and calumny reached an unprecedented virulence. The Tories 
charged their opponents with being a set of hypocritical schis- 
matics and republicans, worthy only of the pillory and the gal- 
lows. The Whigs retorted by throwing similar dirt into the faces 
of the Tories, and characterized them as traitors, concealed pa- 
pists, and rebels. What is most extraordinary of all is, that the 
intensest party rage and hate existed between the several factions 
of the established clergy ; and among the thousands who were 
the professed teachers of a religion whose cardinal virtue is 
charity, there were probably not a score who possessed the 
slightest spark of that quality themselves. A very large pro- 
portion of these had never acknowledged William III., yet they 
only expressed their Tory sentiments in so fer as they could 
safely do it without endangering their livings. The lower ranks 
of the clergy were generally Whigs, and maintained the more 
liberal and tolerant sentiments of that party ; yet they hated 
the Tories more intensely than they hated the Dissenters. So 
far indeed was this detestable spirit carried, that the partisan 
newspapers could not even allude to an accident which had oc- 
curred to an opponent, without giving utterance to a sneer or 

* Thus the Flying Post of the 7th of August, 1714, had the following : 
" Keep out, keep out Hanover's line, 
'Tis only James has right divine, 
As Romish parsons cant and whine ; 
And sure we must believe them ; 
But if their Prince can't come in peace, 
Their stock will every day decrease, 
And they will ne'er see Perkin's face ; 
So their false hopes deceive them." 



40 HISTOEY OF THE FOTJE GEOKGE8. 

a jest. Thus one of these journals records that, " On Monday ft 
last the Presbyterian minister at Epsom broke his leg, which pe; 
was so miserably shattered that it was cut off the next day.4j 
This is a great token that these pretenders to sanctity do notyfo! 
walk so circumspectly as they give out."* This intense hostility ]& 
was partly to be ascribed to the influence which the memorable 
case of Dr. Sacheverell had exerted, and the conflicts which arose 
in reference to his sermon preached in St. Paul's in November,, « 
1709, in which he stigmatized the Whig Lord Treasurer Godol--f 
phin, under the epithet Volpone, as a traitor and rebel; con-^ ( 
demned the revolution of 1688, attacked the Dissenters and the 
Whigs, while his subsequent trial increased the existing partisan 
fury ; until at length in December, the king was compelled to 
issue a proclamation forbidding the clergy to treat of political [ 
topics in their sermons. -\ 

The coronation of George I. took place on the 20th of Octo- ;j 
ber, 1714. The popular enthusiasm which was exhibited on the i|| 
occasion of this imposing ceremony was as great as that which jl 
marked the first landing of the king. His cabinet consisted, with ij 
one exception, entirely of Whigs. The Earl of Halifax was ap- 
pointed first Commissioner of the Treasury ; Lord Townsend and j 
General Stanhope were nominated Secretaries of State, with the i 
control and direction of foreign affairs ; the Earl of Nottingham, 
a Tory, was declared President of the Council ; Lord Cowper i 
was appointed Lord Chancellor; the chief command of the 
armies was intrusted to the Duke of Marlborough ; the Earl of 
Wharton received the privy seal ; and Sutherland was selected for 
the viceroyalty of Ireland. 

The first parliament which assembled under the new regime 
convened in March 1715, and was almost entirely composed of 

* See the Weekly Packet, London, of November 12th, 1715. To this sarcasm 
retorts like the following were administered to the Tories, speaking of the ve- 
nality, licentiousness and greediness of many of the High Church faction • 

" They swallow all up, 
Without e'en a gulp, 
There's naught chokes a priest but a halter." 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE FIEST. 41 

iVhigs. One of the first acts of the new legislature was to im- 
each the leading members of the ministry of the late Queen 
bine, on the charge of high treason. Sir Robert Walpole in- 
armed the house that the papers found in the office of Lord 
Jolingbroke afforded ample grounds for such an impeachment, 
nasmueh as they proved his administration to have been the 
nost wicked and corrupt that ever existed in England. The 
tapers which referred to the recent treaty made at Utrecht with 
ranee were specially designated as being of this character and 
endency ; and a committee of twenty-one persons was appointed 
o report upon them, of which committee Walpole was chair- 
nan. That committee soon reported ; the effect of which was 
hat a motion was instantly made in the house to impeach Lord 
Jolingbroke of high treason. Lord Coningsby exclaimed, before 
he motion was put : " The chairman has impeached the hand ; 
impeach the head. — I impeach Robert Earl of Oxford and Mor- 
imer of high treason." Subsequently the Earl of Ormond was 
deluded in the act of impeachment, and both houses of parlia- 
nent, after a short and feeble resistance on the part of the Tory 
nembers, passed these impeachments without any difficulty, and 
-lmost without a division. 

Immediately after the passage of the act of impeachment, 
Jolingbroke and Ormond fled to France. Oxford remained to 
tand his trial, was thrown into the tower, and after a long im- 
prisonment, escaped without any further injury. Though none 
>f the accused ever suffered the extreme penalties of the law, yet 
his impeachment of the late ministry exerted a most salutary 
nfluence in one direction ; it taught and asserted the great prin- 
fiple that the ministers of the crown could be and sometimes 
vould be held personally responsible for the acts of their admin- 
stration ; which principle it was well to hold ever afterward in 
errorem over the heads of those who occupied places of such high 
rust and importance. In default of the personal appearance of 
Jolingbroke and Ormond bills of attainder were passed against 
hem ; and their names and armorial bearings were erased from 
he rolls of the peerage by the orders of the house. 



42 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

Although the Whig party reigned with absolute authority 
during the first year after the accession of George I., they were J, 
not undisturbed in the exercise of their supremacy. On the 23< 
of April, 1715, the anniversary of the birthday of Queen Amy 
occurred, and riots and tumultuous gatherings disgraced the me ^ 
tropolis. The mob patrolled the streets shouting : " God ble 
the Queen, High Church, Bolingbroke and Sacheverell." Man 
of the meeting-houses of the Dissenters were in danger of beingi 
burned down. Other and greater riots occurred subsequently 
on the occurrence of the birthday of the Duke of Ormond. Aii 
Oxford the Quaker chapel was torn down by the rabble. A»L 
Manchester all the Dissenting meeting-houses were destroyed, i 
Gradually the spirit of disorder spread through Staffordshire, r j 
Cheshire, and various portions of the kingdom, till at length iwfi 
became so formidable that the well-known Eiot Act was passedJ ;( 
for the purpose of aiding in the suppression of the existing tu|j 
mults. The royal troops were busily employed in arresting and i 
punishing the malcontents. Nevertheless secret plots were grad- 
ually forming by the zealous Jacobites throughout England foi 
the purpose of cooperating with the same faction in Scotland, to 
effect the restoration of the Pretender ; though the open and final 
consummation of this movement did not take place until a sub 
sequent period. 

During this interval of growing discord and confusion, the 
British press exhibited the utmost virulence and licentiousness. 
The two parties levelled against each other every species of offen- 
sive missiles, arguments, satire, caricatures and ribaldry. Song 
and ballads were more numerous and popular than at any previous 
period.* One of the pamphlets of this period which attained a 

* The following may be quoted as a specimen of this species of choice liter- 
ature. It is entitled the " High Church Rebels," and contains several additional 
stanzas : 

" See how they pull down meetings, 
To plunder, rob, and steal ; 
To raise the mob in riots, 
And teach them to rebel : 

Oh ! to Tyburn let them go! " 



LIFE AND REIGN OP GEORGE THE FIRST. 43 

Hde celebrity was entitled : " An argument proving all tho 
Tories in Great Britain to be fools. Price fourpence." 

Nor could it reasonably be expected that, in the midst of such 
Partisan heats, the offensive personal peculiarities of George I. 
vould be overlooked. They became in fact the subject of an 
mmense amount of bitter and not undeserved ridicule. His 
reatment of his wife, still a prisoner in the fortress of Ahlden, 
v r as severely animadverted upon ; for it was well known to all 
nen that he punished her, if she were guilty at all, for the com- 
bission of the very same crime of which he himself had been, 
[nd was even then still guilty. The evident injustice and incon- 
istency of this conduct did not escape censure and scrutiny. 
Hie hostile mob of Tories satirized his personal qualities, his 
ignorance of the language of his subjects, his heavy stupidity, his 
bndness for saur-kraut and punch, and above all his singular 
>artiality for the detestably ugly, ungraceful, greedy, cor- 
>ulent, and repulsive German women whom he still retained 
iround him as his mistresses. Madame Keilmansegge was de- 
scribed as being a mountain of fat, having two acres of cheeks, 
which were thickly covered with rouge. The appalling height 
;>f Madame Schulemberg was described as being the chief charm 
which won for her the king's favor, and her promotion to the 
pignity of the Duchess of Kendall. The rapacity of this lady 
was publicly dwelt upon; and it was asserted that Bolingbroke 
frad bribed her with the gift of eleven thousand pounds, to secure 
from the king, at the suitable period, the royal permission to re- 
turn to England. Eobert Walpole's interviews with the monarch 
were caricatured in various ways ; for it was known that the 
king did not understand English ; that the minister knew neither 
German nor French ; and that their conversation was carried on 
in such Latin as would have provoked Tully and Quintillian in their 
graves, had it been uttered near them. Madame Schulemberg still 
continued to grow in the favor of the monarch, notwithstanding 
the ridicule and censure heaped upon their connection ; for she 
was successively created Baroness of Dundalk, Countess of Dun- 
gannon, and Duchess of Munster. She seems to have acquired 



44 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

an absolute dominion over the feeble mind of her besotted lover ; 
and her new accessions of rank and dignity called forth new 
ebullitions of popular contempt and indignation. 

In June, 1716, George I., no doubt wearied by the everlasting j 
strifes and jealousies of his new dominions, solaced himself witn 
his first journey to his beloved Hanover. He appointed hi* 
son, the Prince of Wales, regent during his absence. This prince* 
was a person of the most meagre and insignificant capacity, a* 
his whole career abundantly testified. He was ignorant, obsti- 
nate and narrow-minded ; and every quality of his nature was 
calculated only to excite contempt. Nevertheless during hi* 
father's first visit to Hanover, he succeeded in winning no smalfll 
degree of popularity with the nation, by adopting and executing) 
the prudent measures which the astute ministers suggested to; 
him. During the sojourn of George I. on the continent, he refused 1 
to see his unfortunate wife ; and as if for the purpose of adding < 
irritation to her ignominy, he enjoyed the amusement of thai 
chase in the vicinity of Ahlden, but took no further notice of her 1 
existence, or of her sufferings, than to give orders that a more! \ 
rigid surveillance should be thenceforth exercised over her in her i 
captivity. 

After the return of George I. from Hanover the open quar- J 
rel occurred between him and the Prince of Wales, which con- J 
tinued during the remainder of the life of the monarch, and be- \ 
came disgracefully notorious. The origin of this dispute is said li 
by some writers to have been jealousy of the popularity gained 
by the prince during the exercise of his regency. Whatever 
may have been its cause, the king banished his son and heir from 
his presence ; and went so far as to let it be understood by the 
court, that whoever visited the Prince or the Princess of Wales, 
would fall under the royal disfavor. Yet in spite of this decla- 
ration, there were not a few among the most noble and distin- 
guished of the courtiers who preferred to pay their devotions 
rather to the sun which was destined soon to rise in the political 
heavens, than to that which would inevitably descend beneath the 
horizon in the lapse of a few short years. 



CHAPTER III. 

he Jacobite Rebellion— The Pretender proclaimed in Scotland— The Victory at Pres- 
ton — The Septennial Bill — Furious Debates in Parliament — History of the South 
Sea Bubble— Its Unparalleled Effects— National frenzy— Universal Bankruptcy- 
Judicious measures adopted by Sir Robert Walpole — Peculiar qualities of this Min- 
ister — His Personal and Political History — His Eminent Services to the House of 
Hanover. 

'he rankling hostility which existed between the Whig and 
\>ry parties, and which was nothing else in reality than an antag- 
nism between the Houses of Hanover and Stuart, eventually 
ulminated in open rebellion against the government. The first 
utbreak occurred in Scotland. The Earl of Mar proclaimed 
he Pretender, and .set up his standard under the title of King 
ames III. at Castletown ; and soon ten thousand men rallied to 
is camp. His confederates south of the Tweed were unable to 
ender him any effectual assistance, in consequence of the vigi- 
ance and activity of the government ; which, adopting the ex- 
treme measure of suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, committed 
jord Lansdown, the Earl of Jersey, Sir William Windham, and 
ther distinguished Jacobites to close custody. These prompt 
neasures, however, did not prevent the Earl of Derwentwater 
,nd Mr. Foster from raising an armed force, and proclaiming the 
retender in Northumberland and Lancastershire. But this 
novement was completely crushed by the victory of the royal 
roops commanded by General Carpenter, at Preston ; where 
he insurgents were surrounded, attacked, vanquished, and com- 
piled to surrender at discretion. At the same time the parti- 
alis of the house of Stuart, under the Earl of Mar, met their 
>pponents, commanded by the Duke of Argyle, at Dumblane. 



46 HISTORY OF THE FOUE GEOKGES. 

A furious battle ensued. The right wing of the king's army, ledji 
on by General Whitham, was completely broken by the pro-ft 
digious onslaught of the Scotch; but a different result was I 
achieved by the Duke of Argyle, who commanded the left wind* 
of the royal troops. He drove the enemy about two mile*! 
before him ; and on his return he met the victorious partyU 
which had vanquished General Whitham, when another conflict™ 
ensued in which the advantage remained with the duke. The 
rebels subsequently lost the city and castle of Inverness ; theirn 
forces were rapidly diminished and dissipated ; great incapacityrj 
was displayed by the rebel leaders ; and the rebellion in bothM 
kingdoms was happily and speedily suppressed. Lord Der4-| 
wentwater and other leaders of the malcontents, in spite of greats 
efforts made to save them, were tried for treason, condemned! 
and executed. 

The suppression of external disturbances was followed byf 
intense discord in the Houses of Parliament. The famous Sep-1 
tennial Bill was introduced, the object of which was to grant thelj 
Legislature which was then in existence, and which had beenl 
elected only for the period of three years, power to extend their 
duration to seven years. The proposition, therefore, was in sub-| 
stance that the members should elect themselves for four years. 1 
The chief argument which was used in support of this singular 
proposition was, that the disaffection of the people to the govern- 
ment was, then so great, and the enemies of the monarch were 
then so numerous and so powerful both at home and abroad, 
that a new election precisely at that period might be destructive 
to the peace and even the stability of the government. It was 
also added, and with some show of reason, that great and deplor- 
able evils constantly attended the frequent recurrence of parlia- 
mentary elections, in consequence of the corrupt and established 
modes in which those elections were carried on. 

In the House of Lords the bill was opposed with great earnest- I 
ness and ability by many of the peers. The Earl of Nottingham 
especially distinguished himself on this occasion. He contended j 
that frequent Parliaments were of the very essence, and one of 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FIRST. 47 

he greatest glories of the British constitution ; that the mem- 
ers of the Legislature possessed no power thus to enlarge their 
unctions, either as to substance or as to time ; and that if they 
tosscssed the right thus to extend their functions for four years, 
hey possessed equal right to do so for a hundred or for five hun- 
red years. In the House of Commons the opposition to the bill 
fas equally determined. Protracted debates ensued. Lord Ray- 
nond, afterward Chief Justice of England, delivered a speech of 
nrivalled power and effect against it, and conclusively answered 
very argument which had been advanced in its support. These 
te classified as follows : 1. The expenses attending frequent elec- 
ions ; 2. The divisions and animosities excited by them ; 

The advantages derived by the enemies of the country from 
hese domestic feuds ; 4. The encouragement which the bill, if 
>assed, would hold out to the allies of Britain to form new and 
nore permanent connections with her. 

Notwithstanding the opposition which the Septennial Bill met 
vith in the nation and in both Houses of Parliament, it passed by 
l very large majority, and immediately received the approbation 
)f the monarch ; who, in his speech on the occasion, congratulated 
he country upon the pleasing prospect in the future of having 
ind enjoying a more settled government. 

The bitter animosities which had prevailed during so many 
fears between the two great parties which divided the nation, as 
;vell as all other excitements and conflicts, were destined, in the 
pear 1720, to give way to one of the most singular and fantasti- 
cal delusions which ever disgraced and impoverished a people. 
This was the celebrated South Sea Bubble. 

In 1717 a Scotch adventurer named Law fled to France, to 
vade the consequences of a duel ; and there he employed his 
remarkable financial abilities in projecting a company for the 
purpose of carrying on trade with the territories adjacent to the 
Mississippi River. In 1719 the French monarch incorporated 
the French India and China companies, of one of which Law 
was the president; giving them peculiar privileges and mo- 
nopolies on condition that they would undertake the payment 



48 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 



of the State bills. There was suddenly an immense advance in ' ; 
the shares of the company ; and the success of the scheme was 
most extraordinary. The French Government was relieved oflW 1 
all its pecuniary difficulties. Many of the nobility and courtier^* 
became immensely rich. Law rose so high in the estimation!* 
both of the court and the people, that he was admitted to the 
Privy Council, and appointed comptroller-general of the Financeaf 
of France. The extraordinary success of this experiment sugmp 
gested to the English ministry the expediency of attempting td$ 
achieve the same magnificent results, by means of an obscure an<$ft 
languishing association which had been established in 171 li| 
termed the South Sea Company. They conceived the idea ofw 
investing this company with certain important privileges, and them 
making it agree to liquidate the national debt, which was then* 
regarded by the British people as an intolerable burden. Aislaif 
bie, the chancellor of the exchequer, Lords Stanhope and Sunder-M 
land, and many other leading statesmen viewed the project withal 
special favor. Its chief opponent was the sagacious and pene-4-1 
trating Sir Kobert Walpole, who in May, 1715, had succeeded theW 
Earl of Halifax as first lord commissioner of the treasury. Aw 
the period of which we now speak, he was not a member of th« 
ministry ; but he deservedly wielded a great influence in the ] 
House in consequence of his superior ability and experience.!" 
The safer and wiser heads in the Legislature perceived the danger? 8 
which would eventually ensue from the execution of the project. 
But in spite of all opposition the bill became a law ; it received! : 
the royal sanction ; and the enterprise was heralded forth to thej' 
world by men in high places as one deserving of the utmost con-| ! 
fidcnce and esteem. 

Then ensued one of the most remarkable spectacles recorded ] 
in history. Wearied with political strife and party feuds, al 
prodigious reaction took place in the public mind in favor of I 
financial excitement and speculation. The rage for dealing in] 
South Sea shares became intense and universal. In a few weeks I 
the stock rose to above a thousand per cent. It is true, indeed, 
that the dealers and buyers knew very little in reference to thel 



LITE AND REIGN OP GEOKGE THE FIRST. 49 

leal resources, capital, and securities of the company ; but they 
pngaged in the purchase and the sale of stock because every 
|ne declared that such a course would soon lead to the posses- 
ion of immense wealth, and that millions were to be won by 
hose who boldly embraced the golden opportunity. Every thing 
Jse therefore was for the time forgotten. Throughout the three 
lingdoms, but especially in London, stockjobbing became the sole 
:ursuit of all classes and parties ; of Whigs and Tories, of high- 
hurch and low -church, of dissenters and freethinkers, of the 
pble and the vulgar, of the learned and the ignorant. All these 
prved to constitute a tumultuous, excited, and sanguine multi- 
ade, whose whole existence seemed to be absorbed in the sin- 
ular delirium which had thrown its potent spell over the public 
tend. Exchange Alley and Threadneedle Street, the great 
ead-quarters of the company, were crowded from morning till 
ight by eager gamblers of every description and condition. 
)legant women, superbly dressed, elbowed their way bravely 
lrough the throng to attain the object of their wishes, and possess 
lemselves of the inestimable and talismanic scrip. The high- 
ly in the vicinity was obstructed by the brilliant equipages of 
rinces, dukes, and prelates, adorned with illustrious arms and 
jronets ; whose owners eagerly joined the crowd and were lost 
i its tumultuous current. Hundreds invested all they pos- 
ted in the purchase of shares. Others sold every thing and 
ought stock with the proceeds. Some pledged rights in ex- 
lange for stock, of which they held only the expectancy of a 
iture and contingent interest. Every conceivable expedient was 
[lopted to raise money for the purpose of investment. At the 
lime time, the most artful and insidious methods were contrived 
jy the directors of the company to keep up the popular enthu- 
asm. Vast and gorgeous visions of the opulence to be derived 
torn the mines of Mexico and Peru through the connection which 
as alleged to exist between them and the operations of the 
jmpany, were depicted before the greedy and deluded eyes of 
ie nation. It was asserted that the company possessed a cap- 
al of a hundred and ten million pounds, together with the 
3 



50 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

interest of the national debt, which had been transferred by gov- 
ernment to the control and credit of the company ; and theyy 
opened four new subscriptions, which increased the amount of cap* | 
ital, as was asserted, to the prodigious sum of two hundred andl 
ninety-five million pounds. 

Nor did the evil terminate there. The nation having oncei 
become insane with the mania for speculation, were not satisfied' 
with gambling in one way, but a host of other companies were*.! 
quickly established for the purpose of speculation in every posf | 
sible shape. In three months the number of these financial! 
bubbles exceeded a hundred, and their aggregate stock was said] 
to amount to five hundred million pounds. They referred! 
to every possible subject, some of them being the most imprac-; 
ticable and absurd which could be conceived. Among the listjt 
were companies for insuring the fortunes of minors, for securing^ 
against thieves and robbers, for insuring marriages against di-i- 
vorce, for obtaining pensions for widows, for trading to thete 
Oronoko, for improving the breed of horses, for founding Ar--- 
cadian colonies, for making engines to fly in the air, for purchas- 
ing lands in Pennsylvania, for curing gout and stone, for in* 
surance against small-pox, for fabricating air-pumps for thaa 
brain, for making boards of sawdust, and for casting nativities^ 
Some even went so far as to form a company the very purposes? 
of which were yet unknown ; "for an undertaking which shall 1 
in due time be revealed," Instances were frequently known im 
which several persons hired an office for a single day, opened a 
subscription book in the morning, took a small deposit on tha; 
shares, and after night-fall closed their shop, and dived utterly 
beyond soundings, carrying away with them a large sum off 
money. The whole nation were dancing in a jubilee of insane)' 
hilarity and enthusiasm. Some persons, indeed, who shrewdly: 
sold out when the stock was at its maximum, realized immense)' 
fortunes. A few others connected with the court, received largel? 
bribes for their influence in procuring the patronage of then 
government in favor of the South Sea Company. Thus their 
Countess of Keilmansegge and her daughter, each accepted a 



LIFE AOT) REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 51 

bribe of ten thousand pounds for this infamous purpose. But 
very soon the fatal crisis arrived ; these extraordinary bubbles 
burst ; and myriads were at once and totally ruined. It would 
be impossible to describe the amount of misery, poverty, and 
despair which ensued. In October, 1720, scarcely six months 
after the endorsement of the South Sea Company by the royal 
approval, the stock fell from eleven hundred to eighty. Many 
of those who were thus suddenly reduced to beggary from afflu- 
ence, died of broken hearts. Many others committed suicide, 
and a vast multitude of those who had, during all their lives, 
been accustomed to the enjoyment of affluence and consideration, 
unable to endure the disgrace of their altered state, deserted 
their native land to hide their shame during the rest of their 
existence in the obscurity of foreign countries. 

As soon as the popular mind began to recover from the ter- 
rible shock which it had received, indignation against the found- 
ers of this gigantic swindle, naturally took the place of every 
other feeling. The South Sea Directors became objects of uni- 
versal detestation and hatred. They were arrested and their 
property confiscated. Eobert Knight, the treasurer of the Com- 
pany, fled to the continent with the books of the company, which 
were supposed to contain important secrets which would have 
condemned many in high influence at court. A parliamentary 
investigation of the subject was ordered and made, which revealed, 
in the language of the report of the committee, " a train of the 
deepest villany and fraud hell ever contrived for the ruin of any 
nation." The ministry was immediately broken up, and in 
April, 1721, a new one was formed under the guidance of Sir 
Robert Walpole. Lord Stanhope, one of the previous ministry, 
overcome by his transports of rage at the accusations made against 
him, expired from the intensity of his emotions. George I. re- 
ceived the intelligence of his sudden death at supper. He was 
unable to suppress his grief, and immediately rose from the 
table with his eyes suffused with tears.* Through the judicious 

* Some of the great villains concerned in these wrongs met with a punish- 
ment in some degree commensurate with their crimes. Aislabie was expelled 



52 HISTOET OF THE FOTTK GEORGES. 

measures adopted by Robert Walpole, public credit was soon 
restored to some degree, and the evils entailed on the nation 
by this great calamity were ameliorated. This is the period in 
English history at which political caricatures first began to be 
common in England ; for previous to this interval of frantic ex- 
ultation and as frantic despair, they were usually mere emblems, 
which were so obscure and cautious, as to be rarely intelligible. 
The general feelings which pervaded society, after it began to 
recover from the blow, may be inferred from the fact, that it 
became a general practice when a knave turned up in playing at 
cards, for the dealer to exclaim : " There's a director for you." 

But Sir Robert Walpole was again at the helm of state ; and 
soon the energy and ability of his administration made them- 
selves widely and pemanently felt. He now adopted means for 
carrying on the government, which, if they were censurable, were 
at the same time the most efficacious. Seeing the universal per- 
fidy and unmixed selfishness which characterized the patriots and 
politicians of everyparty and profession, he adopted the plan of 
buying over everybody to the support of the government, by 
using for that purpose the secret service money. It is easy for 
the rigid moralist to condemn this expedient on the part of the 
minister ; but a little reflection will perhaps convince every im- 
partial thinker that, if men are hopelessly selfish and mercenary, 
and if gold alone will induce them to support good measures 
which are promotive of the welfare of the nation, it is better to 
use the nation's money for that purpose, than permit her legisla- 
tors, for the want of its distribution, to adopt injurious and un- 
just measures. The election for a new Parliament was ap- 
proaching, and an extensive system of bribery was employed to 
influence the result. Then was seen an exemplification of the real 

from his seat in Parliament. Craggs opportunely died, and thus escaped a simi- 
lar fate. Sunderland retired from office in total disgrace. Knight escaped to 
Brussels, where he was arrested by the British resident ; but he subsequently 
escaped again. The immense fortunes of the Directors of the South Sea Com- 
pany were appropriated by an act of Parliament to relieve the prevalent dis- 
tress, and the charter of the pernicious and delusive monster was totally 
abolished. 



LIFE AND REIGN OP GEORGE THE FIRST. 53 

baseness of humanity ; not only were the common herd of poli- 
ticians accessible and subservient to bribes, but many men of 
high standing, of loud professions of patriotism, and of great 
social influence, were known to be closeted with the Premier, and 
to have carried away with them from his cabinet, the abundant 
and potent wages of their infamy. 

The chief defect of Sir Robert Walpole, if defect it be, was 
an insatiable avarice of power. He could bear no man of com- 
manding intellect, who might dare to influence his own, to be 
near him in the administration. Accordingly, in forming his 
cabinet he omitted to confer a place upon his old and tried ally 
Pulteney, one of the ablest, most respectable, and most eloquent 
statesmen whom England had ever produced. Pulteney thence- 
forth became Walpole's mortal foe, and transferred the weight of 
his talents to the opposition. In a short time Carteret, another 
man of great ability, and whose knowledge of foreign affairs was 
most extensive and accurate, was compelled to retire from the 
cabinet in consequence of the all-absorbing ambition of the Pre- 
mier. He also joined the ranks of the opposition. Lord Towns- 
hend was a man of a different stamp. He was less eloquent and 
less gifted than the two preceding statesmen ; but he was more 
stable, more reliable, more profound. In addition to this, he 
was Walpole's cousin, his brother-in-law, his old friend, his for- 
mer colleague in the cabinet, his neighbor both in town and in 
country. Yet a personal dispute respecting the exercise of their 
respective functions took place between them, which nearly ter- 
minated with a personal conflict or a duel ; but which ended in 
nothing more serious or disastrous than Lord Townshend's with- 
drawal from the cabinet, and the loss of a faithful and attached 
friend. In a short time Lord Chesterfield, Lord Cobham, Lord 
Stair, and others, were compelled for the same reason, to adopt 
the same course. 

Yet in justice to Walpole it must be admitted, that to him 
the house of Hanover were indebted, in a very great measure, 
for their establishment upon the throne of England. Few great 
ministers among the many whom the English nation, so prolific 



54: HISTOEY OF THE FOTTE GEOEGES. 

of illustrious men has produced, possessed greater talents, 
or wielded more absolute power, or left a brighter fame. 
He was descended from an ancient and affluent family in the 
county of Norfolk. He was originally destined for the church ; 
but by the early death of an elder brother the direction of his 
life was changed, and he passed some years in the quiet obscuri- 
ty of a country gentleman. His attention was first attracted to 
politics, at the close of the reign of William III., by the great 
perils which then so fiercely menaced the Protestant succession. 
The act of settlement which determined propitiously the future 
destination of the crown, was passed by Parliament only by a 
majority of one; and the death of the Duke of Gloucester, 
Queen Anne's son, increased the danger to a higher degree. Wal- 
pole then entered Parliament, and soon his superior capacity for 
the conduct of affairs became clearly evident. He took rank as 
one of the leaders of the Whig opposition. He gained the confi- 
dence of Godolphin, and was by him appointed Secretary at war, 
the first position which he occupied in the administration. When 
the disgraceful treaty was concluded with Louis XIV., by which 
that pompous and perfidious tyrant was saved from ruin, and all 
the glory with which the victories of Blenheim, Ramillies, Ouden- 
arde, and Malplaquet had covered the British nation and the Brit- 
ish arms was wiped away by the filthy skirt of the robe of a 
mistress of the royal bed-chamber ; Walpole in honorable and 
reasonable disgust resigned his office, leaving Harley and Boling- 
broke to govern the disgraced cabinet, queen, and nation. He 
boldly defended Marlborough against the attacks of the adverse 
faction ; in revenge for which a charge of corruption when in 
office was made against him. He was sent to the Tower, upon 
an accusation of having received nine hundred pounds from a 
contractor ; he was expelled from the House of Commons, and 
having been re-elected, was pronounced ineligible to a seat, by a 
majority of the House. The receipt of the money was nevei 
denied ; the only defence was that the long-established usage 
of the war office justified the act. That Walpole was avaricious is 
evident from the vast amount of his accumulations. With a for- 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE FIEST. 55 

nine originally of only two thousand pounds a year, his wealth 
toward the termination of his public career, amounted to two 
Kindred and fifty thousand pounds. He entertained the convic- 
tion that all politicians were corrupt ; arid he is well known to 
aave asserted boldly, that all such men had their price.* Dur- 
ing the early part of the reign of George I. he resisted the de- 
sire of that monarch for hostilities against Prussia, in conse- 
quence of a Mechlenburg quarrel. Five years afterwards, when 
the stupid monarch wished to oppose the Czar of Russia, and 
support the Duke of Holstein in his claims on the Swedish 
throne, Walpole again and successfully resisted the policy of 
involving England with the quarrels of the continent, in which 
she did not possess the slightest degree of real interest. When, 
therefore, he entered the service of the House of Hanover for 
the last time in 1715, he carried with him into the cabinet the 
reputation of being not only an able, but also a disinterested and 
patriotic statesman. As an orator, and master of the great art 
of debate, Walpole was chiefly remarkable for his strong and 
manly sense, his clear statements, his contempt for all artificial 
ornaments, his boldness, firmness, and directness, his readiness 
of retort and reply, his great self-possession and command of 
temper, his invariable coolness and presence of mind, and his 
prevalent good humor. Of him it might be said, with truth, 
that no man has ever been a greater favorite with the House 
of Commons, whose turbulent and often half-drunken mem- 
bers it was his constant duty to lead, during many memo- 
rable years of anxiety, danger and conflict. Lord Dover, in 
speaking of him, justly denominates him " the glory of the 
Whigs." And it is the more singular that his personal influence 
became so despotic over his party, and over his monarch, because 
he had to resist the counterbalancing tendency of some great de- 
fects. His general knowledge was very deficient, and must 
have often excited the contempt of the polished and cultivated 
nobles whom he made his subservient tools. His manners were 

* Vide Coxe'a Life of Robert Walpole, Vol. I., p. 757. 



56 HISTOET OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

exceedingly coarse ; and his hours of relaxation were spent in 
noisy, licentious, and profane revelry. Notwithstanding all' 
these and other blemishes, England, during a thousand years of! 
national existence, may be said to have produced but one Robertt 
Walpole. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Movements of the Pretender— Apprehensions felt in England— Bishop Atterbury— His 
Trial for Treason, and Banishment — Theological Controversies — Doctrine of tho 
Trinity — Spirit of Religious Toleration — The Earl of Nottingham's Bill of Pains 
and Penalties — Bigotry and Intolerance of the Bishops — Persecution of the Boman 
Catholics— Relations of England with the Continental Powers. 

The Pretender to the British throne, who at this period 
resided at Rome, had not abandoned his ambitious schemes ; and 
during the prevalence of the speculative mania in England, had 
been busy with his agents in preparing the future movements 
of his party. The exultation of his friends had been greatly in- 
creased by the fact that, in 1720, the Polish wife of the repre- 
sentative of the House of Stuart had given birth to a son. This 
son was destined afterwards to experience the most singular and 
romantic vicissitudes of fortune. The disasters resulting from the 
South Sea Bubble had thrown great disgrace upon the govern- 
ment of George I. His cabinet were compelled to resign, and 
on their ruins Robert Walpole rose triumphantly to power. 
To escape the unpopularity which surrounded him, the king spent 
a large portion of the year 1720 in his hereditary dominions on 
the continent. So badly had his affairs been administered in 
England, that the debts on his civil list for this year amounted to 
half a million pounds ; and he was compelled to apply to Par- 
liament for a special grant to liquidate them. This state of 
affairs added ardor to the hopes of the Jacobite faction. About 
this period the mother of the sovereign's wife, Eleanor, Duchess 
of Zell, expired, and the court in consequence went into mourning. 
It is worthy of remark that this was the only domestic incident 
3* 



] 



58 HISTOKY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

and usage during the reign of George I., in which his unfortunate v 
wife was permitted to participate with her family. 

Early in 1722 the movements of the Pretender again as- 
sumed a formidable importance. With the assistance of Cardi- 
nal Alberoni, the prime minister of Spain, a Spanish armament jl 
consisting of six thousand troops sailed from the port of Cadiz, 
under the command of the Duke of Ormond.* But this fleet 
was dispersed and destroyed by a terrific tempest off Cape 
Finisterre. Two frigates only, with the Earls of Mareschal 
and Seaforth, and the Marquis of Tullibardine, were able to 
continue the voyage. These vessels contained three hundred 
Spanish soldiers, and arrived safely on the coast of Scotland. 
Here they were joined by a few Highland clans ; but on the first 
conflict with the royal troops, they were vanquished, and the 
whole body of Spanish soldiers surrendered as prisoners of war. 
In a short time no vestige remained in Scotland of this futile and 
ill-conducted conspiracy. 

Much greater apprehension was felt in England in reference 
to the movements of the Pretender, than the course of events 
justified. As soon as the sailing of the Duke of Ormond from Ca- 
diz was known at London, an intense panic pervaded the capital. 
A camp was immediately formed in Hyde Park to protect the 
king and the city from the attacks of the Jacobites. It is a 
• singular circumstance that the most prominent personage in this 
conspiracy in England was Bishop Atterbury, a prelate of the 
established church. He held the see of Eochester, and had been 
a minister of the crown during the brief period of the premier- 
ship of Bolingbroke under Queen Amie. On her death, the 
bishop had been bold enough to propose to his associates in the 
cabinet, that they should proclaim the reputed son of James II. as 
her successor. Ever since the accession of the House of Han- 

* It is well known that the assistance rendered by Alberoni to the Pretender 
was in revenge for the part which George I. took in the Quadruple Alliance. 
The object of this alliance was to reconcile and adjust the rival claims and pre- 
tensions of the courts of Vienna and Madrid ; in which dispute the English 
monarch had warmly espoused the interests of the former in opposition to those 
of the King of Spain. 



LIFE AJSTD KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FIKST. 59 

>ver, Atterbury had continued secretly to plot for the restora- 
ion of the exiled family. Nor was he idle on the present occa- 
ion ; for when the most active conspirators in London were 
mprisoned and examined, they all implicated Bishop Atterbury. 
These persons were a clergyman named Kelly, an Irish priest 
lamed Neynoe, the Jesuit Plunket, and Sayer, a barrister of the 
Temple. The prelate was therefore arrested and committed to 
he Tower, on the 24th of August, 1722. In May, 1723, he was 
wrought to trial before the House of Lords, and a bill of pains 
tnd penalties was passed which deprived him of his bishopric, 
md banished him from the kingdom. He was placed on board 
i king's vessel and conveyed to France. He was followed by a 
orrent of execration and curses, not only from the members of 
lis own profession, but from the large majority of the nation, 
such as has never before or since been heaped upon the head of 
iny Christian minister.* The declaration which had been pub- 
lished by the Pretender at the commencement of the recent con- 
spiracy, and dated from Lucca, was decreed by both Houses to 
be a false, insolent, and traitorous libel, and was ordered to 
be burned by the common hangman. In this declaration, its 
author had promised with singular generosity, that if George I. 
would relinquish the throne, he would consent to his retaining 
the title of king in Hanover, would unite all other European 
states to confirm it, and would also give him the succession to 
the British throne whenever his own legitimate heirs might be- 
come extinct. The Houses presented an address to the king, 
expressing their astonishment at such extraordinary presump- 
tion ; and repeated to him their assurances of support against 
the impotent efforts of the attainted fugitive from whom such 
sentiments had proceeded. 

The public mind, being thus relieved for the present from 
the fear of outward invasion and disturbance, reverted, with its 
habitual restlessness, to subjects of conflict and litigation at home. 

* Vide " England under the Souse of Hanover ; its History and Condition 
during the Beigns of the Three Georges, die. By TJiomas Wright, Esq. 2 vols. 
London, 1848. Vol. I., p. 87. 



GO HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

A vehement controversy arose in reference to the Trinity. Then 
doctrine of the established church on this subject was assailed 
with great learning and ability by Dr. Whiston, in several 
elaborate publications. The University of Oxford then took 
hold of the subject, and in full convocation resolved, that the 
solemn thanks of that body should be tendered to the Earl of 
Nottingham for his noble defence of the Catholic faith, con- 
tained in his answer to Professor Whiston. Being thus encour- 
aged, this theological and exegetical statesman introduced a bill] 
into the House of Peers, for the suppression of blasphemy andl 
profanity ; which enacted that whoever spoke or wrote againstt 
the being of a God, the divinity of Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, 
the doctrine of the Trinity, the truth of the Christian religion, or • 
the inspiration of the Scriptures, should suffer imprisonment for i 
an indefinite term, unless he renounced and abjured his errors. 
The bill further proceeded to give authority to all bishops and 1 
archbishops within their respective jurisdiction to summon any 
dissenting teacher, and require his subscription to a declaration of 
faith containing the preceding articles ; and upon his refusing 
so to do, authorizing the prelate to deprive him of the benefit of 
the act of toleration. 

The discussion of this infamous bill furnished an opportunity 
to the various members of Parliament, and especially to the eccle- 
siastical members, to exhibit the detestable spirit which actuated 
them. It was evident that those who supported the most flagrant 
violation of every principle of religious liberty ; who were tyrants 
and bigots equal in intensity to the worst of Romish inquisitors ; 
who were themselves unworthy to possess the rights which they 
enjoyed, and were in reality a disgrace to the Christian name, — 
that all these would sustain the bill. Accordingly, it is melancholy 
to note that the prelates in the House were its most ardent and 
determined advocates. Dr. Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, as 
he was more eminent in rank and position, became more prom- 
inent and pertinacious in its favor. He was followed by the 
Bishops of London, Winchester, Litchfield, Coventry, and many 
others. Only two secular peers sustained the bill. Many of 



LITE Am) KEIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 61 

hem warmly opposed its passage with arguments of great earn- 
istness and abiiiJa\ Lord Onslow declared, that although he 
jvas warmly attached to the established church and its doctrines, 
le would never aid the propagation of truth by persecution. 
The Duke of Wharton followed ; and during the delivery of his 
speech drew from his pocket a copy of the Scriptures, and quoted, 
n support of his position, passages enjoining universal charity, 
neekness, and forbearance. The Earl of Peterborough declared, 
,vith great eloquence and fervor, that though he was in favor of] 
i parliamentary king, he was opposed to a parliamentary God, 
ind a parliamentary religion ; and that if the bill passed, he 
should much prefer to occupy a seat among the Popish Cardinals 
;han a place in the British House of Lords. He condemned 
ibove all other outrages, those of a Protestant Inquisition. 
Lord Cowper stigmatized the bill as an avowal of the most ex- 
ecrable practices of the Komish church, which, if adopted, would 
ventually lead to the introduction of the rack, the wheel, and the 
stake. Other members of the House spoke to the same effect ; 
and boldly asserted, what must be evident indeed to every dis- 
cerning mind, that the introduction and support of this bill was 
another of the innumerable instances which constantly occurred, 
in which a pretended regard for the honor of religion was made 
a pretext for the gratification of the most malignant and infa- 
mous passions. The bill was lost by a vote of sixty against 
thirty-one. 

The prevalent tone of feeling in the British nation, during 
the reign of George I., in consequence of, or perhaps in concur- 
rence with, the supremacy of the Whigs, was one of religious 
toleration and enlightened liberty. The fate which awaited the 
bill of the Earl of Nottingham, just referred to, furnished an evi- 
dence as well as a result of this fact. But the advocates of eccle- 
siastical tyranny were not easily disheartened ; and in the course 
of the same session another debate ensued which elicited a still 
more execrable display of bigotry and intolerance. A respectful 
petition was presented to Parliament by the Society of Quakers, 
who believed that the administration of oaths is always unlawful, 



62 HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

requesting that the words " in the presence of Almighty God ' jL 
might be omitted in their cases, in the legal aaipauthorized formm 
of adjuration, as being repugnant to their honest convictions of it 
duty. A great storm arose in the House of Lords when this billL 
was proposed. A majority of the prelates vociferated their malig-jW 
nant spite against it, and against those to whom it referred. Thejdl 
Bishop of Rochester declared that he knew not why such a mark ollfe 
indulgence should be extended to a set of fanatics, who had noiee 
claim whatever to the name of Christian. A counter petitions 
was presented by the Archbishop of York from the clergy offjl 
London, expressing the most serious concern lest good menu! 
should be grieved, and the enemies of religion elated, by the i id 
spectacle of the Legislature of the nation condescending to favortjl 
the demands of a sect who renounced the divine institutions of :|J 
Christianity, and particularly that one of them, by which the .j pi 
faithful are initiated into the church, and become Christians ;; I 
meaning thereby confirmation, for which rite, however useful 111 
and commendable it may be, or may not be, in itself, not a parti- - 
cle of authority can be found in Scripture. But the British Par 
liament and nation were not to be disgraced by an approval of | 
such a petition. It was rejected, and the request of the Quakers 
was finally and justly allowed ; very much to the disgust of the [ 
mitred and gowned bigots and hypocrites, who, on this occasion, 
were the determined advocates of religious tyranny and in- 
tolerance. 

It cannot be asserted, however, that the same enlightened 
and impartial policy characterized all the acts of legislation which 
were passed, in reference to the several classes of religionists in 
the nation at this period. In the same session of Parliament, a 
bill was introduced proposing that a hundred thousand pounds 
should be assessed upon the estates of Roman Catholics, on the 
ground that they had been making frequent efforts to subvert 
the government, to compass the expulsion of the House of Han- 
over, and the return of the exiled family ; and because it was 
held to be highly reasonable that the fomentors of disturbances 
which it had cost the state large sums of money to suppress, 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE FIRST. G3 



ould themselves be compelled to endure a portion of the bur- 

;n. The Tory and Jacobite factions in Parliament, as well as 

the nation, earnestly condemned this bill, as a matter of 

•urse ; but it was opposed also by many others of the most 

telligent and patriotic members of the House. It was contend- 

l by them, with great force of argument, that because some of 

ol ie Eoman Catholics were suspected, and even proved, to have 

sen concerned in treasonable measures, it was unjust that the 

hole body of them should not only be charged with the guilt 

f others, but be compelled even to suffer the penalty of it ; that 

hile the law supposes every man to be responsible for his own 

2ts, and for those only, this bill rendered one party answerable 

>r the conduct of another, over whom it did not appear that 

ley were disposed or were able to exercise any control ; that the 

roposed bill specified no individual Eoman Catholic upon whom 

ither suspicion or evidence was able to affix the charge ; that 

here was no justice in the argument, that thus to punish the 

acobites at home indiscriminately, would deter their confeder- 

tes abroad from entering upon rash and treasonable enterprises, 

ecause no connection or collision had been proved between 

hem, and because the very liability of those at home to such 

inwarrantable tyranny might in fact render both those at home 

; nd those abroad more reckless, more disaffected, and more rebel- 

ious ; and that it was both impolitic and infamous for the govern- 

nent to treat a body of men as criminal, simply because they 

vere suspected to be guilty, while as yet the vigilance and the 

nalignity of their enemies had been unable to produce the slight- 

st amount of evidence against them. 

These considerations were not answered by the opposing fac- 
:ion ; but prejudice assumed the place of argument, and the bill 
inally passed by a majority of two hundred and seventeen votes, 
igainst a hundred and sixty-eight. It then received the sanction 
of the sovereign. On the 27th of May, 1723, the king closed 
the session of Parliament by a speech from the throne, in which 
he expressed his satisfaction at the measures which had been 
adopted, especially those which appertained to the punishment of 



64 HISTOET OF THE FOUE GEOEGE8. 

political offenders, whose guilt, though it was concealed undei 
the veil of secrecy, was nevertheless well known to the agents of 
the government. He concluded by remarking that some extra 
ordinary affairs would again render it necessary for him to visil 
the continent ; and he indulged the hope that, during his absence 
the wisdom and vigilance of his good subjects would preserve 
the security of their country, their religion, and their govern- 
ment. The special object of the royal solicitude was the coalition 
which the king had reason to believe had been formed between i 
Russia and Sweden for the restoration of the Duchy of Schleswic 
to the Duke of Holstein ; in which case the security of the king's) 11 
favorite acquisitions, the Duchies of Bremen and Verden, would 
be seriously and permanently endangered. It was ascertained] 
with certainty, that the Emperor of Germany had become a 
party to the treaty of Stockholm — an article of which referrecH 
to the restoration of the Duchy of Schleswic — in return for the* 
adhesion of the contracting powers to the execution of the ceL» 
ebratcd edict, termed the Pragmatic Sanction ; which was in-l 
tended to secure the vast and heterogeneous possessions of the! 
House of Hapsburg, as a perpetual and an indivisible feofmentl 
to Maria Theresa, and to her heirs forever.* 

* The term Pragmatic is used in this case in a peculiar sense. It is derived! 
from the Greek TrpayixaTiicbs, solers in rebus tractandis, at the same time involv- J 
ing the complex idea of meddling in afiairs, and those affairs being of the greatest m 
importance. The word was first employed by the historians of the Byzantine! 
Empire, and with this precise signification. In European history the term is j 
applied to two celebrated edicts. The first is that issued by Charles VII. of I 
Prance in 1438, which secured the liberties of the Gallican Church against | 
the encroachments and the tyranny of Kome. The other was the one referred I 
to in the test, and was established after many years of anxious negotiation with J 
the various powers of Europe, by the Emperor Charles VI. of Germany, but \ 
which, after his death, became as paralyzed and as impotent as its defunct author. 



CHAPTER V. 

'reaty formed between England and the Continental Powers— Horace "Walpole— Dis- 
satisfaction with the Treaty — Trial and Punishment of the Earl of Macclesfield — 
Return of Bolingbroke to England — He unites witit Pultcney and Windham in op- 
position — Character of William Pulteney — His remarkable Attainments — Character 
of Windham — Description of Bolingbroke — His Early History — His Physical Ad- 
vantages — His Prodigious Talents — His Political Career — Death of the Wife of George 
I. at AMden. 

[O counteract the dangerous influence of the treaty referred 
o in the preceding chapter, an alliance was formed at Hanover, 
n September, 1725, under the auspices of George I., to which 
England, France, Denmark, Prussia, and Holland became par- 
jes. The existence of this treaty was communicated to the 
British Parliament in January, 1726, and it immediately excited 
ery determined hostility, on the ground that by it the British 
tation would eventually become involved in a war for the pro- 
ection of the king's Hanoverian dominions, contrary to an ex- 
cess provision contained in the act of settlement. The chief 
gent of the king in the consummation of this alliance was 
lorace Walpole, the able and astute brother of the prime min- 
ster. He rose in Parliament for the purpose of discussing the 
nerits of the treaty, answering the objections which had been 
irged against it, and showing the importance, wisdom, and ne- 
cssity of its provisions. He explained, in an elaborate and 
engthy argument, the relations and interests of the chief powers 
f Europe since the treaty of Utrecht. He detailed the progress 
nd bearings of the various alliances which had been formed by 
hem subsequent to that event. He clearly pointed out how the 
ltmost danger threatened from the treaty of Vienna, formed 
between the emperor and the King of Spain ; how the establish- 



66 HI8T0EY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

ment of an East India Company at Ostend was intended as the • 
rival of the commercial power and success of Britain ; how the^ 
treaty of Vienna would probably be followed by a marriage be- 
tween the eldest daughter of the emperor and the Infant Dom 
Carlos of Spain ; how the issue of such a marriage would, in time, , 
inherit not only the imperial diadem, and the vast hereditary^ 
possessions of the House of Hapsburg, but also the monarchy of i 
Spain, and its appendages in two continents ; how the occurrencee 
of such an event would destroy the balance of power in Europe, 1 , 
and endanger its liberties ; and how, to obviate and resist suchi 
calamitous results, the treaty of Hanover had been consummated] 
by the British sovereign with the best intentions, with greatt 
labor, and with profound sagacity. 

The arguments of Walpole readily convinced the Parliaments 
of the truthfulness of his position, and the treaty of Hanover wass 
approved by an overwhelming majority. An address to the king? 
was voted by a majority of two hundred and eighty-five againstt 
a hundred and seven, declaring the fullest approbation of thee 
House of the treaty, expressing their gratitude to the king forr 
his exertions in disappointing the dangerous schemes entertained! 
by the emperor and the King of Spain, and reprobating the alli- 
ance which had been formed between them. The House furtherr 
declared to his majesty that the nation would support himi 
against the attacks which any hostile power might make; 
against him, in revenge for the wise and judicious measures-; 
which he had adopted, even though those attacks should be direct- 
ed against his Hanoverian dominions. The treaty of Hanover r 
was strengthened in March, 1727, by the accession of Sweden ; . 
which power had till then been deterred from so doing by the 
influence and the dread of Eussia. But that dread was dissi- 
pated when, after the death of Peter the Great, Sir Charles^ 
Wager was sent by order of George I. with a powerful fleet to 
the Baltic, with orders not to permit the Russian ships to leave* 
the port of Revel until the Empress Catherine I. had duly ex- 
plained her intentions in reference to the vast naval equipments > 
which she had recently prepared for some unrevealed and un- 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE TIIE FIRST. 67 



nown purpose. The reply of the empress declared that nothing 

as farther from her thoughts than to distm-b in any way the 

caee of the north ; and expressed a desire to maintain the most 

micable relations with the British monarch. She nevertheless 

( dmitted, that she desired the restoration of Schleswic to the 

)uke of Holstein, though she was perfectly willing that an equiv- 

lent should be allowed for it to the Danish monarch. Being 

hus reassured, George I. ordered the return of his fleet to Eng- 

lnd ; but the impression produced by these events was highly 

ivorable to the superiority of the naval power of Great Britain. 

During the year 1725 a domestic incident occurred, which 

1 erved to show the impartial administration of public justice 

prich at that period existed in England. The Earl of Maccles- 

leld, lord high chancellor of the realm, was impeached by the 

louse of Commons of high crimes and misdemeanors. This 

>erson, whose original name was Thomas Parker, commenced 

ds career as an attorney's clerk, and rapidly rose, by means of 

lis superior talents, through all the various grades of the law, 

mtil he attained the highest. George I. raised him to the rank 

>f Earl in 1721. He was a partisan of the monarch against his 

on and future successor, in the disputes which constantly took 

)lace between them. To his care were intrusted the children of 

he Prince of Wales, and he exercised great influence in the royal 

lousehold. But the chancellor, like his illustrious and infamous 

predecessor Bacon, was incapable, notwithstanding his great 

;alents, of resisting the potency of a bribe. He sold places and 

preferments, and trafficked with the funds of the suitors of his 

ourt. He managed to acquire immense wealth by the abuse of 

lis high trust, as guardian of the persons and estates of orphans 

md lunatics. His enemies, urged on by the Prince of Wales, 

resolved to impeach him, and they did so effectually. After a 

protracted trial of twenty days before the House of Peers, he was 

convicted, was sentenced to pay a fine of thirty thousand pounds, 

and to be imprisoned in the Tower till the amount was paid. To 

annoy the prince, the king promised the fallen chancellor that he 

would himself repay him the amount of the fine ; but the promise 



}t. 



68 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

[EC 

was never fulfilled. The disgrace and ruin which overwhelme 
the earl soon put a termination to his life ; he predicted thl T 
day of his death to Dr. Pearce, his intimate friend ; and died a<i 
cordingly, more sagacious as a prophet than he had been incoi 
ruptible as a judge. He was succeeded as chancellor by Si 
Peter King, Baron of Ockham.* 

This period was also signalized by the return of the ce. 
ebrated Lord Bolingbroke to England. During his exile hh! 
had resided chiefly in France. Having gained the influence o: 
the king's mistress, Madame Keilmansegge, by immense bribes 
her agency gradually softened the hostility of her royal lover^ 
Sir Robert Walpole was too astute to array his authority in opj 
position to that of the omnipotent Keilmansegge, and he did no^ 
oppose the return of the expelled Jacobite. A bill was accordcj | 
ingly introduced into Parliament, and passed, restoring to hhx 
his forfeited estates, but not permitting him to resume his sea; 
in the House of Lords. The haughty nobleman returned tqj 
England more incensed in consequence of what Walpole had fail II 
ed to obtain for him, than grateful for what had actually bee»i] 
bestowed. He immediately joined the party of the Tories, witty 
whom he united that portion of the Whig party which was ledc 
by the eloquent Pulteney ; who, after being for many years the< 
associate and partisan of Walpole, deserted him, along witljl 
many followers, because he believed that the premier had not re- 1 
warded his services with sufficient munificence and rapidity, 
Pulteney and Bolingbroke were party leaders of extraordinary* 
ability. The opposition which they made to the administration 1 
of Robert Walpole, was more desperate and effective than any 
other which he encountered during his whole political career.,! 
They were joined by Sir William Windham, the able and ao- 

* This excellent person soon ascertained that his abilities did not adapt himi 
to the high post to which he had been promoted, and he resigned. He was suc- 
ceeded by Lord Talbot, one of the most gifted men of his time. Talbot's deatb.li 
occurred in a short period after his promotion. This rapid series of changes ina 
the highest judicial office in the realm, was terminated by the appointment of I 
Sir Philip York, Baron Hardwicke, who presided in the Court of Chancery I 
during nineteen years. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 69 

lowledged head of the old Tory party. Against their com- 
ncd intrigues, eloquence, and activity, Sir Robert battled with 
ie energy and ability of an intellectual giant, during twenty- 
iree years; but he was compelled at last to succumb, though 
j did it with honor and gracefulness, to their protracted and 
iremitting hostilities.* 

The peculiar qualities of this celebrated triumvirate of states- 
.en deserve a more minute delineation. There were two Pul- 
tneys, William and Daniel. The latter was remarkable only 
r his superior capacity for business, and his familiar acquaint- 
ice with foreign affairs. He bore the same relation to his 
ore celebrated relative that Horace Walpole maintained 
•ward his brother Robert ; he was guided in his political con- 
lct solely by the dictation of William, and never ventured 
> lead. William Pulteney was the heir of immense wealth, 
id was descended from a highly honorable and even noble 
,mily. Having entered Parliament at an early age, he soon 
istinguished himself by his superior and powerful eloquence, 
ne of the most competent judges of those times, Speaker On- 
ow, represents him as " having the most popular parts for pub- 
c speaking of any man he ever knew."f His orations were 
nequalled for the polish and beauty of their style, for the spirit 
id effect which characterized their delivery. His most un- 
/udied speeches exhibited the same correctness and elegance 
hich adorned the most mature and labored effusions of other 
ien. Every sentence and every word seemed to be placed with 
jch singular skill and with such perfect taste, that no improve- 
lent could be made upon them by elaborate and protracted 
mutiny. His wit was inexhaustible, his sarcasm scathing, 
'obert Walpole candidly acknowledged that he feared Pulteney's 
Migue far more than he feared any other man's sword. To the 

* One of the agencies which they employed against the minister was a 
Dwspaper entitled the Country Journal or Craftsman, which was edited by 
icholas Amhurst, under the name of Caleb Anvers, which did great execution 
ponthe ranks of the ministerial party. WrigMs England, dec, Vol. I., p. 132. 

t Vide Coze's Life of Walpole, Appendix 3. 



70 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

weight of such intellectual powers was added the influence derives 
from an irreproachable moral character, and from high family coi ' 
nections. The great fault which marked his career was his deadllr 
opposition to the ministry of Walpole, simply from motives or l 
personal jealousy. He knew perfectly well that the measure* i 
of that great minister were judicious and wise; that they wen r 
intended, by their pacific influence, to withhold the nation from " 
expensive and destructive wars in which it had no real interests' ""' 
and from which it could derive no possible advantage ; and ye s " 
the policy of Pulteney, and of the powerful party which he ledc mi 
aimed at inflaming the minds of the people with insane animosj 
ties and brutal passions ; at plunging Europe into calamitoub 
and unnecessary conflicts ; at the unprincipled abandonment of>l 
allies, and the unjustifiable breaking of treaties ; at the degradaa " 
tion of the monarchy, the overthrow of a capable, prudent, andi 
sagacious ministry, and the triumph of insensate faction. Tfy 
attain these ignoble ends, all the vast intellectual powers of PulM 
teney were expended ; and when at last he triumphed, the throni 
on which he proudly took his seat, crumbled instantly beneati; 
him ; his partisans were divided by the most furious rivalry 
and hostility ; and Pulteney became one of the most unpopular 
of men, both with his own former friends, with the party whom 
he had vanquished, and with the nation at large, who ever a' 
tained the summit of political power in England. 

Sir William Windham was a much less brilliant statesman 
than Pulteney, but a much more substantial and reliable one! 
Though descended from a noble family, his early education had} 
been somewhat neglected ; but he had drawn from actual con] 
verse with able statesmen, and especially from his intimacy witM 
Bolingbroke, that practical and available knowledge which adapted! 
him, in connection with his superior natural gifts, to lead in] 
the accomplishment of great results. Speaker Onslow said re^ 
specting him : " In my opinion, every thing about him seemedj 
great, the most made for a great man of any one I have known 
in this age." He was an excellent debater, and an able counsel-! 
lor. He possessed perfect honesty of purpose, unflinching consis- 



'• 



LIFE AKD EEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FIKST. 71 

ency and steadiness of principle. His style of speaking was 
olid and argumentative. He never used a figure or uttered a 
witticism in his speeches ; yet few orators ever produced a deeper 
effect upon the minds of his auditors. At an early age he de- 
ilared himself an ardent Jacobite, mingled in their councils, and 
if as imprisoned on suspicion of being concerned in the rebellion 
)f 1715. At a later period of life, he became convinced of the 
impossibility of the restoration of the Stuarts, and confined him- 
jelf to the support and the advocacy of Tory principles and 
measures. His opposition to Walpole was based on conviction, 
md not dictated by personal enmity. Conscious of honest in- 
dentions, he was bold and dauntless in spirit ; and his dissimi- 
larity in many respects to his two celebrated associates added 
in element of power to their coalition which aided essentially in 
their ultimate but fruitless triumph. 

Bolingbroke was nevertheless the most gifted and the most 
remarkable member of this famous triumvirate. His intimate 
friend, Dean Swift, said of him with some show of truth, that at 
a certain period, " he had in his hands half the business of the 
nation, and the applause of the whole."* Fifteen years elapsed 
between his entrance into Parliament and his attainder and flight ; 
yet during that brief interval, he secured the first place among 
the great masters of eloquence, and won a literary reputation 
Inch classed him among the ornaments of the Augustan age of 
English literature, f As an orator, his is the singular and per- 
haps the solitary fate, to have held the first rank in the estima- 
tion of his contemporaries, and yet not to have left a solitary line 
of his spoken effusions on record, for the scrutiny and admira- 
tion of posterity. Nor is it strange that William Pitt, when 
reflecting on this unusual circumstance, should exclaim, that he 
would regard the possession of one of Bolingbroke's great ora- 

* See his " Journal to Stella," August, 1711. 

+ Goldsmith sa} r s that " Bolinghroke discovered a degree of genius and as- 
siduity that, perhaps, had never been known before to be united in one person, 
to the same degree." Life, of Eolingbroke, Goldsmith's Miscel. Works, Vol. 
IV, p. 41. 



\Y 



72 HISTOKY OF THE FOTTK GEOKGES. 

tions, as a literary treasure more to be desired and valued thai 
the restoration of all the perished intellectual products of th 
ancient world — of Cicero's translations from the orations oft 
Demosthenes, or the lost hooks of Livy and Tacitus. Noi 
will this estimate seem absurd or exaggerated when we re 
member the natural and acquired attributes and qualities of this 
great man. His intellect was one of immense power, sagacity, anc 
compass ; and it had been from his youth, carefully and elaborc 
ately cultivated. At Eton he laid the foundation, broad andd 
deep, of his subsequent attainments. He was perfectly familiar 
with the Latin writers, nor was his acquaintance with Greekk 
literature insignificant.* Careful study had made him at homee 
in every department of thought, which had been adorned and il- 
lustrated by the superior intellects of his own country. His knowl- 
edge of universal history was accurate ; and his mind was capa- 
ble of abstruse and long-continued speculations in morals andl 
philosophy, the monuments and products of which yet remain 1 
in his works. He well understood the nature of the human 1 
mind, and the acutenesss of his understanding enabled him to) 
explore the utmost depths of metaphysical and ethical specula- - 
tion.f Of him it may be said, that no statesman or orator of ' 
any age, except perhaps Cicero alone, brought with him into the } 
struggles and conflicts of the Senate, so thorough an acquaintance 
with the principles of intellectual and moral science, or such 
varied and abundant mental resources. 

The physical attributes of Bolingbroke were admirably adapt- 
ed to promote his success as an orator and legislator. His per- 

* Bolingbroke furnished his friend, Alexander Pope, with a prose essay con- 
taining all the original and striking thoughts which the latter afterward elab- 
orated into his celebrated " Essay on Man." Vide Letter from Dr. Blair in 
BoswelVs Johnson, I., p. 140. 

t Lord Chesterfield asserts that, " though nobody spoke and wrote better on 
philosophy than Lord Bolingbroke, no man in the world had less share of philos- 
ophy than himself; that the least trifle, such as the over-roasting of a leg of 
mutton, would strangely disturb and ruffle his temper ; and that his passiona 
constantly got the better of his judgment." Lord Chesterfield's Works, by Dr. 
Maty, Vol. I., p. 283. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE FIRST. 73 

son was tall and well proportioned. His countenance was hand- 
some. All his features were symmetrical and expressive. His 
morals, indeed, were of the worst description, and in an age 
abandoned to every vice, he exceeded all others in his licentious- 
ness. But this stigma chiefly appertains to the period of his 
youth and early manhood. In later life, without any change 
having taken place in his principles, he lost the ability, and per- 
haps the inclination, to commit his former excesses. His spirit 
was manly and generous ; nor was there any thing mean or 
sordid in his character. In conversation he was exceedingly 
affable and fascinating. He captivated every one by whom he 
w r as approached, as much by the suavity and sweetness of his 
manners, as by the commanding vigor and superiority of his un- 
derstanding. He entered Parliament as a Tory. Such had 
been the political faith of his ancestors. He became the most 
able and active supporter of Queen Anne, first in the House of 
Commons, afterward in the House of Lords. As one of the min- 
isters of the queen, he exercised almost absolute power until the 
period of her sudden death. He plotted, previous to that event, 
with great skill and earnestness, for the exclusion of the House 
of Hanover, and for the restoration of the Stuarts. On the death of 
his royal mistress he w r as impeached; when, conscious of his guilt, 
and of his inability to make good his defence, he fled to the con- 
tinent. Having arrived in France, he immediately entered the 
service of the Pretender, and was made by him Secretary of 
State. This promotion furnished unanswerable proof, had such 
been wanting, of the guilt of the fugitive statesman. After the 
failure of the rebellion of 1715, Lord Mar, one of the most trust- 
ed supporters of the Pretender, succeeded in overturning the 
confidence which that prince had reposed in Bolingbroke, and 
he was dismissed from his office.* In revenge he instantly forsook 

* Various reasons have been assigned for this dismissal. The most probable 
is that Bolingbroke had become disgusted with the want of sagacity and pru- 
dence displayed by the chief friends of the Pretender, and ceased to take an 
active or sanguine interest in their movements, as being, in his judgment, per- 
fectly hopeless. See Memoirs of the Court of England, d-c, by John II. Jesse. 
Vol. II, p. 103. Bolingbroke's character might be thus briefly summed up : Na- 
4 



74 HISTORY OF THE FOUK GEOEGES. 

the service of the Pretender, and became his bitter and unrelent- 
ing foe. He succeeded in obtaining permission to return to Eng- 
land through the influence of one of the king's mistresses, whom 
he had bribed with an immense sum ; and he then joined the 
opposition against Walpole, which he continued to support till 
the fall of that minister. The writings of Bolingbroke still re- 
main the most noble and enduring monument of his genius, and 
bear evidence of a powerful and capacious intellect. He died at 
the age of seventy-four, having suffered intense agonies from a 
cancer in the face, which terminated his life. The chief blemish 
in the character of this celebrated man, was the fact that he en* 
tertained the cheerless and pernicious doctrines of infidelity, and- 
that he prided himself in the possession of the bad pre-eminence 
which he held as a philosophical atheist. 

Such were the character and the qualities of the three me 
who headed the opposition against the administration of Wal- 
pole, during the reign of George I., and subsequently during t 
supremacy of his son and successor. They formed for man 
years the most prominent and imposing figures in the livi 
history of that stormy and eventful era. 

George I. returned in safety from his visit to his hereditar 
dominions. One of his first acts was to elevate his favorite mi 
tress, Madame Keilmansegge, to the peerage. She was now made 
Countess of Leinster in Ireland, Baroness of Brentford and Coun- 
tess of Darlington in England. The illegitimate daughter of the 
king by the Duchess of Kendal, Melusina de Schulenburg, was 
also created Baroness of Aldborough and Countess of Walsing- 
ham. The weakness and complacency of the monarch could 
scarcely be expected to go farther. 

On the 2d of November, 1726, the unfortunate Sophia Doro- 
thea, wife of the King of England, expired, after a tedious illness, 
in the castle of Ahlden. She had endured a cheerless captivity of 
more than thirty years, during twelve of which her husband ha 

ture had been prodigal to him of all her best gifts ; and he therefore became 
conspicuous in the temples of science, fascinating in the haunts of pleasure 
eloquent in the halls of state, grand and potent among men everywhere. 



LITE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 75 

occupied the British throne. Before she expired she blessed her 
children, forgave her enemies and oppressors, and solemnly 
summoned her absent husband, the chief cause of her unjust 
sufferings, as she asserted, to meet her at the judgment bar of 
God within a year after her own death. We will meet this 
prophetic summons again, before we conclude the history of her 
husband's career. As soon as he was informed of the death of 
the princess, he ordered an announcement to be made in the 
Gazette to the effect that a Duchess of Ahlden had expired at her 
residence in Germany ; but no allusion was made to the fact that 
in her death the monarch had lost a wife and his children a 
mother. When he heard that the court of Berlin, over which 
his daughter presided, went into mourning in consequence of this 
event, his wrath became furious beyond measure. 

To console himself for this affront after his own peculiar 
fashion, George I. immediately took a new mistress. This per- 
son was the half sister of the starving poet Savage ; and her 
mother was the repudiated wife of the Earl of Macclesfield, who 
afterward married Colonel Brent. Unlike all the other concu- 
bines of the monarch, Miss Brent was allowed to reside in the 
palace of St. James. Their intercourse continued until it was 
unexpectedly terminated by the death of the king, who had in- 
tended — notwithstanding the intense disgust which was already 
expressed by the British nobility and populace at the honors 
which he had previously conferred upon his ridiculous mistresses 
— to elevate this woman to the peerage, and thus inflict upon it 
another disgrace. The deportment of the enfeebled monarch to- 
ward this favorite of his old age, was more childish and more 
contemptible than that which had characterized his earlier con- 
nections ; and was the cause of serious and angry disputes with 
the members of the royal family. Nevertheless, Miss Brent re- 
mained supreme and triumphant in her influence, until the de- 
parture of the king on his last visit to the continent. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

Meeting of Parliament— The Eoyal Speech — Loyal Address of the Legislature — The 
Kestoration of Gibraltar — Threatened Hostilities with France — Sudden Establish- 
ment of Peace — Domestic and Foreign Prosperity — Last Visit of George I. to Han- 
over — His Illness and Death — Character of this Monarch — His neglect of Literature 
— Survey of his Eeign — Joseph Addison — Dean Swift — His Genius and Irreligion — 
Writings of Alexander Pope — John Gay — Sir Isaac Newton — John Flamsteed — Stato 
of Morals and Eeligion in England during the Eeign of George I. 

In January, 1727, both Houses of the British Parliament 
again convened. This was destined to be their last assemblage 
during the reign of George I. ; but before the termination of his 
career, this monarch was fated to anticipate and to prepare for 
a conflict with several powerful European States ; and thus, 
during the closing months of his long career, to renew the 
favorite employments and associations of his youth. 

After the opening of Parliament the king informed the 
members, in a speech from the throne, that an offensive and de- 
fensive alliance had recently been concluded between the Spanish 
monarch and the Emperor of Germany, the object of which 
treaty was to wrest the fortress of Gibraltar from the English ; 
to place the Pretender upon the throne of Great Britain ; and to 
injure in various ways the commercial and political privileges 
and interests of the nation. The king terminated his address by 
saying, that the Spanish monarch had ordered his ambassador to 
quit the realm, after having delivered to the ministers an offensive 
memorial which contained a formal and peremptory demand for 
the restitution of Gibraltar. 

In reply to the royal speech, the Commons voted a most 
patriotic and zealous address. They expressed their determina- 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE TIIE FIRST. 77 

tion to support his majesty with their lives and fortunes against 
all his enemies ; to raise the supplies which were necessary to 
provide such armaments as might be requisite to vanquish the 
hostile powers ; and to defend to the last extremity the succes- 
sion and supremacy of the House of Hanover. The utmost en- 
thusiasm prevailed in the Commons ; and in vain did Pulteney 
and Windham exert all their influence and eloquence to diminish 
the patriotic ardor which was exhibited. In vain did they de- 
clare that it was sufficient on such an occasion to return thanks 
to his majesty for his gracious speech, and appoint a time for 
taking into consideration the measures which were proper in 
reference to it ; without pledging themselves in so precipitate a 
manner to support measures of the nature and wisdom of which 
they were still ignorant. To no purpose did they assert, what 
indeed was very just in itself, that, in reference to the means of 
offence or of defence to be adopted, the advice of the House 
might be as necessary and as useful as its support ; that in so 
great an emergency it was incumbent upon them to deliberate 
calmly and intelligently ; and that, to effect this end, it would 
be expedient that those papers and other evidences upon which 
his majesty had based his own convictions, should be submit- 
ted to the scrutiny of the House. Sarcastic inquiries were even 
made by the opposition in reference to the fleets which were to 
convey the Pretender to the shores of his ancestors ; and 
whether he proposed to embark on the floating island of Gulli- 
ver as a means of transportation. It was boldly asserted by 
others, that the alarms of the sovereign were all a delusion ; 
that not the slightest ground existed for them ; and that the for- 
tunes of the Pretender at that moment were more depressed and 
more desperate than they had ever been since the expulsion of 
the House of Stuart from the British throne. But none of these 
arguments availed any thing in moderating the defiant and 
patriotic enthusiasm which prevailed ; and the address to the 
king was carried by an overwhelming majority of two hundred 
and fifty-one votes against eighty-one. 

The only assertion made in the royal speech which contained 



78 HISTOET OF THE FOUE GEOEGES. 

any show of truth, was that which referred to the restitution of 
Gibraltar to the King of Spain. The claim of that monarch was 
chiefly founded upon a promise which had been given by George 
I. himself, to that effect, in an autograph letter addressed by him 
in 1721 to the Spanish monarch. In that letter the following 
language occurred : " I have learned with great satisfaction, 
from the report of my ambassador at your court, that your 
majesty is at last resolved to remove the obstacles which have 
'for some time delayed the entire accomplishment of our union. 
Since, from the confidence which your majesty expresses toward 
me, I may look upon the treaties which have been in question 
between us as re-established ; and that, accordingly, the instru- 
ments necessary for carrying on the trade of my subjects will be 
delivered out ; I do no longer hesitate to assure your majesty of 
my readiness to satisfy you with regard to your demand touching 
the restoration of Gibraltar, promising you to make use of the 
first favorable opportunity to regulate this article with the con- 
sent of my Parliament."* This letter had been written by 
George I. at the period of its date,f in order to aid in the ac- 
complishment of the purposes which were at that time the sub- 
ject of negotiation with the Court of Madrid ; and its only pur- 
pose, doubtless, was to flatter and deceive the Spanish monarch, 
without any ulterior intention of fulfilment, or even of remem- 
brance. 

The address of the king and the subsequent resjjpnse of Par- 
liament to it, gave great offence to the Court of Vienna. The 
emperor ordered Count Palin, his minister at London, to present 
a remonstrance to the British Court, charging the king with hav- 
ing made calumnious misrepresentations, and assertions void of 
all foundation ; and declaring that no such treaty whatever had 
been entered into between his imperial majesty and the King of 
Spain, either in reference to the restitution of Gibraltar, or the 
restoration of the Pretender. The Parliament replied to this 
remonstrance in terms equally strong ; and stigmatized it as an 
insult to his majesty, and a base and vain attempt to infuse into 

* Vide the Hardwiclce State Papers, t June the First, 1721. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE FIKST. 79 

the minds of his subjects, a distrust of the royal word. Lord 
Townshend declared in the House of Peers, that if the safety of 
the state permitted ministers to lay before their lordships the 
advices in possession of the Government, they would no more 
doubt the existence of such a treaty, than they would if they 
had been present at the signing of it. Count Palin, before leaving 
the kingdom, was ordered by his master to publish his remon- 
strance. He did so, adding to it a letter from Count Zinzen- 
dorf, the imperial chancellor, containing a statement of the facts 
of the case according to his version of them. The intemperate 
language of these papers gave additional offence to the British 
Parliament ; and another address was presented to the king, reit- 
erating, in still stronger terms, the sentiments contained in the 
previous one, and commanding Count Palin immediately to de- 
part the kingdom. 

Preparations for the approaching conflict were now made 
on both sides. The English forces were augmented by sea and 
land. Thirty thousand Swedes, Danes, and Hessians were taken 
into the British service. The king was empowered, by an act of 
Parliament, to apply such sums of money as should be necessary 
for making good the expenses and engagements which had been, 
or should be incurred, before the 25th of the ensuing September, 
for the purpose of establishing the security of commerce, and re- 
storing the tranquillity of Europe. The sum of three hundred and 
seventy thousand pounds was issued in exchequer bills, and was 
charged upon the surplus produce of certain duties appertaining 
to the sinking fund. In vain did the opposition, headed by Pul- 
teney and Windham, thunder forth their eloquent harangues 
against such an unwarrantable delegation of authority to the 
sovereign, and the reckless appropriation of funds which belonged 
by law to other purposes, to the sudden exigencies of the state. 
The ministers and the party of the court triumphantly car- 
ried all their measures by great and decisive majorities ; and 
Parliament was at length prorogued on the 15th of May, 1727. 

The only actual hostility which took place, in consequence ot 
these disputes, and this outburst of national pride, was the siege 



80 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

of Gibraltar. Sir John Norris, indeed, sailed with a powerful 
fleet to the Baltic, where he was joined by a Danish squadron. 
But at this crisis the French monarch, Louis XV., perceiving 
that the issues at stake were not really worth the important con- 
sequences which would result from continued hostilities, and 
being further influenced by grave personal considerations, inter- 
posed his friendly offices between the belligerents. Prelimi- 
nary articles of accommodation were signed in June, 1727. These 
articles provided that hostilities should immediately cease ; that 
the charter of the Ostend India Company should be suspended 
for seven years ; and that, after the lapse of four months, a con- 
gress of plenipotentiaries should be convened at Aix-la-Chapelle, 
to settle the terms of a final pacification. That congress ac- 
cordingly met, and succeeded in adjusting the various subjects of 
controversy which had so nearly disturbed the repose and in- 
jured the prosperity of the chief nations of Europe. 

Fortune thus seemed to smile propitiously upon the aged and 
royal representative of the house of Brunswick, both at home 
and abroad. In his own dominions, his administration was tri- 
umphant over the power of hostile factions ; on the continent he 
was at peace with all his rivals and enemies ; his title to the 
throne was respected and recognized by every European power ; 
and the head of the Pretender lay low in imbecility and dis- 
grace. Several years had elapsed since the happy monarch visit- 
ed his favorite Hanover ; and he now expressed an ardent desire 
once more to feast his eyes upon its familiar and beloved scenes. 
Accordingly, he embarked at Greenwich with a suitable retinue, 
on the 3d of June, 1727 ; and after a favorable voyage, con- 
voyed by a large fleet of ships, his majesty arrived at Vaer, in 
Holland, on the 7th. He travelled thence by land to Utrecht, 
escorted by the guards to the frontiers of Holland. He reached 
Dalden at twelve o'clock at night on the 9th, still in the enjoy- 
ment of good health. There he ate a hearty supper ; and at three 
o'clock the next morning he resumed his journey. According to 
the report which became afterward prevalent, it was during the 
succeeding day that the letter of Ins deceased wife, containing the 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 81 

" solemn summons to the judgment bar of God within one year 
after her death," was given him while riding in his carriage ; and 
the same popular oracle declared, that the monarch was imme- 
diately seized with fainting fits, which continued till his arrival at 
the episcopal palace of Osnaburg. During his progress thither 
he expressed the opinion to one of his attendants, that " he was 
a dead man ; " and at midnight of the 11th of June, notwith- 
standing every effort of his physicians, he expired, in the sixty- 
eighth year of his age, and in the thirteenth of his reign. The 
singular appearance of his countenance after death, caused the ad- 
ditional rumor to become prevalent among the irreverent mul- 
titude, that the devil had choked the king to death, at the 
instance of his wife, by twisting his neck ! 

Thus ended the career of George I. — one of those common- 
place and ordinary men who, by the force of propitious accident, 
and through the singular influence of the institution of monarchy, 
was elevated to one of the highest, most difficult, and most re- 
sponsible positions which a human being can possibly occupy. 
His personal character has never been the subject of much con- 
troversy. He was an honest, good-natured, dull, and sensual Ger- 
man gentleman, whose chief enjoyment consisted in the society 
of his equally heavy and stupid German mistresses, in drinking 
hot punch, in eating sauer-kraut, and in smoking his huge Hanove- 
rian pipe. He was diffident of his own capacity, and therefore 
never undertook to shine among his courtiers or subordinates. 
He hated the cares and burdens of royalty ; and had it not been 
that, by accepting the English diadem he thereby greatly ag- 
grandized his Hanoverian dominions, and gave them a superiority 
and a consequence among the petty and contemptible German 
principalities by which they were surrounded, it is probable that 
he would have declined the brilliant but difficult post to which 
he was invited by the suffrages of the nation. 

It is doubtless true that the intentions of George I., in the ex 
ercise of his royal functions, were good ; but he always enter- 
tained a strong partiality for his German dominions, and would 
never allow any measures to be adopted which, however bene- 



82 HISTORY OP THE FOUR GEORGES. 

facial they might have been to England, would prejudice the in- 
terests of his hereditary states. It was his great good fortune to 
enjoy the sagacious advice and able assistance of Eobert Wal- 
pole, — one of the most profound and gifted statesman who ever 
wielded the destinies of the British Empire ; and it is not im- 
probable that, had it not been for this propitious circumstance, 
the ignorance, the imbecility, the sensuality, and the unpopular- 
ity of George I. would have led to the speedy overthrow of the 
Hanoverian dynasty in England, and the restoration of the Pre- 
tender to the throne of his ancestors. George I. was particularly 
unfortunate and indecorous in his domestic affairs. His wife 
during his reign was an absent and detested prisoner. His son 
and successor was hostile to him ; and by that hostility he inflict- 
ed much indignity and mortification on his father and sovereign. 
His mistresses were all ignorant, frivolous, and mercenary women, 
who ruled him with absolute authority, who turned their influ- 
ence into their personal profit, and their royal lover into popular 
contempt. His only legitimate daughter, the Queen of Prussia, 
was married to the most detestable ruffian of his day, and 
lived a live of ignominy and misery, in consequence of his savage 
persecutions ; yet the gross and heavy nature of George I. ren- 
dered him in a great measure insensible to the depressing influ- 
ence of these calamities. He possessed some military talents, 
and, possibly, had he been born in an humbler station, might have 
risen to the distinction, and been equal to the duties, of a general 
of division. He understood English imperfectly, and spoke it 
still worse. His constant effort was to shift the responsibility 
of the direction of public affairs from his own shoulders to those 
of his ministers ; thus he said to them plainly on his first acces- 
sion : " I will do as you advise, and thus you become entirely 
answerable for every thing I do." He was parsimonious in his 
habits ; and the only persons who were able to extort money 
from him were his mistresses. But even with these he was not 
lavish ; and he allowed them knowingly to turn their influence 
with him to the aggrandizement of their private fortunes. He 
was no patron of art ; cared nothing for the advancement of lit- 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 83 

erature and science ; was fond of dramatic performances simply 
because they amused and diverted him ; and had, as a general 
thing, a cheerful and pleasant frame of mind. He was, in fact, 
an admirable and convenient puppet, by whose pliable means the 
machinery, and sometimes the mummery, of royalty were car- 
ried on with great success by the party then triumphant in Eng- 
land, headed by their able and acute leaders. The only thing 
recorded either of the sayings or the doings of George I. during 
his Avhole life, which reflects any credit upon him, and deserves 
to be handed down with honor to posterity, is the remark which 
he made to a German nobleman, who congratulated him on be- 
ing the sovereign at once of two such glorious kingdoms as Eng- 
land and Hanover. He replied : " Rather congratulate me on 
having such a subject as Newton in the one, and Leibnitz in the 
other ! " Yet it is doubtful whether the king deserved the credit 
of originality in making this remark : it was probably the echo 
of some graceful compliment paid him by one of his courtiers. 

Although George I. did not extend the slightest degree of 
patronage to art, science, literature, or education, in his English 
dominions, they all flourished in a very considerable degree 
without his assistance. A brief sketch of the most eminent 
writers who adorned this reign, may form a fit conclusion to the 
preceding history of its most important events. 

Joseph Addison deservedly stands at the head of those men 
of genius who adorned the era of the first George, although his 
fame was at its zenith, and the larger portion of his life had 
been spent, when that monarch ascended the throne. Addison 
was the son of a distinguished clergyman, and was born in 
1672. He entered Oxford University at the age of fifteen, and 
soon became known for his great proficiency in Latin poetry. 
He subsecpuently took the degrees of Bachelor and Master of 
Arts in Magdalen College. His first poetical essay which at- 
tracted attention was an effusion addressed to the veteran Dry- 
den, who was then at the termination of his career. About this 
period Addison had the good fortune to secure the favor of the 
Lord-keeper Somers. By his means and influence King William 



S4c HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

rewarded Addison for a complimentary poem on his military 
achievements, with a pension of three hundred pounds per an- 
num. This revenue enabled the poet to indulge his passion for 
foreign travel ; and he visited, during several years, the most in- 
teresting localities of Europe. In 1701 he returned to Eng- 
land, published a narrative of his adventures, and dedicated it, 
with an epistolary poem, to Lord Halifax. In 1704 his most 
celebrated political poem, entitled " The Campaign," appeared. 
Its popularity and success were very great. He was immediate- 
ly rewarded for his loyal labors, by the appointment to the lu- 
crative post of Commissioner of Appeals. He subsequently 
employed his accomplished powers in contributing the chief papers 
which adorn the Spectator, the Tatler, and the Guardian. He 
also wrote a political document entitled " The Freeholder." 
The superior and unrivalled excellence of these various essays, 
their beauty and polish of diction, their clearness and force of 
thought, their apt and effective illustrations, their chaste and 
polished wit, and their excellent moral tendency, have always 
been conceded, and have enrolled these productions, without a 
dissenting voice, among the most perfect and valuable products 
of English genius and English literature. 

The poetical effusions of Addison occupy an equally elevated 
rank. In this department his supremacy may, in some respects, 
be disputed by Pope ; but it must be admitted that, in all the 
higher, grander, more elaborate and inventive achievements 
of the muse, Addison excelled his rival. Pope could never have 
written so admirable and so sublime a production as the tragedy 
of " Cato." In truth, Pope's genius was totally destitute of dra- 
matic power ; and in his own favorite domain, in the produc- 
tion of polished and euphonic measures of jingling verse, he 
never excelled his rival. There is nothing in the " Rape of the 
Lock " or the " Temple of Fame " superior in this respect to 
the " Letter from Italy " or the " Campaign." The personal 
character of Addison was decorous and prudent. He was unhappy 
in his marriage with the Countess Dowager of Warwick, which 
took place in 1716 ; and it is probable that his domestic inquie- 



LIFE AtfD KEIGN OF QEOEGE THE FIKST. 85 

tudes led him to indulgence in the only vice which was ev^r 
laid to his charge. His excesses in' the use of wine hastened his 
death, which took place in 1719. He presented, during his 
whole life, a favorable contrast to all the wits and men of let- 
ters of his day, excepting Pope, in the propriety and decorum 
of his conduct ; and his benevolence was frequently tested and 
exhibited by the sums of money which he loaned, but in reality 
gave, to his thriftless and unfortunate associate, Sir Richard 
Steele. In the career of the latter wit there was nothing 
which deserves especial praise or mention. His intellectual 
eminence was chiefly derived from his connection with Addison ; 
without whose aid and guidance he would have attained a much 
less distinguished place in literature than he now enjoys. In the 
personal incidents of his life, there was little that reflected credit 
upon himself, upon his associates, or upon the pursuits to which 
his restless and anxious existence was devoted. The incident 
which confers most honor upon his memory, is the fact that he 
was able to secure the friendship of such a man as Addison, that 
he retained that friendship during life, and that his name and 
memory will ever be preserved by their connection with the 
literary labors of his more gifted and illustrious friend. 

Jonathan Swift was the next great literary ornament of the 
reign of George I. This powerful and eccentric genius was 
born in Dublin, in 1667. In his fifteenth year he entered 
the university of his native city, where he spent seven years in 
scholastic and learned pursuits. But even at this early period, 
so little was his wayward mind controlled by the dictates 
of prudence in the direction of his studies, that after so long a 
probation, he only obtained his degree speciali gratia. His first 
employment was in the household of Sir William Temple, at 
Moor Park, where his position was one of inferiority and even 
of degradation. Quarrelling with this patron, as was naturally 
the result, he took orders in the Church of England, and accept- 
eu an invitation from the Earl of Berkeley, one of the Lord 
Justices of Ireland, to accompany him thither as chaplain and 
secretary. He now began to distinguish himself by his talent 



86 HISTORY OF THE FOTTK GEORGES. 

for writing satirical and humorous verses. After Lord Berke- 
ley's return to England, Swift obtained his living at Laracor, in 
the diocese of Meath, where he resided during some years. He 
first engaged in political writing in 1701. In 1704 he published 
the well-known " Tale of a Tub," in which production, while he 
displayed his extraordinary powers of wit, disgraced himself 
by sneering at virtue and religion. 

When the Tories came into power in 1710, under Queen 
Anne, the hopes of Swift for political or ecclesiastical preferment 
rose high, in consequence of his friendly relations with Harley and 
Bolingbroke. He was admitted to their most secret councils, on 
terms of equality ; and it is not improbable, that, had not 
doubts generally existed as to his belief in the truth and divinity 
of the religion of which he was a professed preacher, he would 
have been promoted to a bishopric in England. This was the 
great object of his selfish ambition ; but so questionable was 
his reputation, that the highest preferment which his friends 
were able or disposed to confer upon him, was the Deanery of 
St. Patrick's, in Dublin. This promotion took place in 1713 ; 
the death of the queen occurred soon after ; and Swift was con- 
demned to spend the long remainder of his life in unavailing 
regrets, in a subordinate rank, in a place of abode which he 
detested, and beneath the slowly-gathering shadows of hopeless 
melancholy and insanity. 

The infidelity and irreligion of Dean Swift were not the 
only defects which deformed his character. His relations with 
the female sex were such as no wise or good man will justify. 
While yet a young man he had attached himself to a young lady 
whom he has immortalized under the name of Stella ; who was 
the handsome and amiable daughter of Sir William Temple's 
steward. Soon after his first removal to Ireland, he invited her 
to join him. In 1716 he was secretly married to her ; but it does 
not appear that, either before or after the ceremony, there ever 
was any cohabitation between them. Previous to this event, in 
1712, the Dean had been charmed with the wit and beauty of 
Esther Vanhomrigh, a resident of London. Upon her he has con- 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FERST. 87 

ferred an unenviable immortality under the name of Vanessa. 
The great fame and talents of her admirer soon acquired for him 
a despotic sway over her mind ; and for some years they seem to 
have corresponded, she being under the expectation of eventual- 
ly becoming his wife. After the Dean's secret marriage with 
Stella, matters came to a crisis, during which the conduct of 
Swift was so brutal toward both of his admirers, that he broke 
the hearts of both. Miss Vanhomrigh died in consequence in 
1723 ; Stella, whose marriage with the Dean he had always re- 
fused to publish, lingered in misery till 1728. The latter years 
of his own life were spent in idiocy. For some months before 
his death, he maintained a total and morose silence. His power- 
ful mind, imbittered by many provocations and disappointments, 
sank into imbecility before the termination of his physical ca- 
reer. He died in Dublin in 1744, in his seventy-eighth year. 
The peculiar intellectual merit of this celebrated writer consisted 
in his readiness in rhyme, in his complete mastery of the Eng- 
lish language, similar in character and degree to that which 
Byron afterward displayed ; in the polish and elegance of his 
numbers and sentences, in the humorous and sarcastic power 
which he possessed. His " Gulliver's Travels," and his verses 
on his own death, furnish an extraordinary instance of the dis- 
play of the latter qualities. His prose writings are remarkable 
for clearness and simplicity ; his poems are equally distinguished 
for their polished measure, their sarcastic wit, and their striking 
originality. Swift was a gifted man, but neither a great man, 
a good man, nor a happy man. 

Alexander Pope occupies a position in the literature of this 
era midway between Addison and Swift. He was not as inven- 
tive as the former, nor so satirical and humorous as the latter ; 
but he combined some of the best qualities of both. Pie was 
born in 1688. His family were Roman Catholics ; and his earliest 
instruction was derived from a priest of that Church, who taught 
him the Latin and Greek language. From his boyhood he ex- 
hibited a fondness for poetry, and soon began to weave his 
fluent numbers. His associations, even in his youth, were 



88 HISTOKY OF THE FOUR GEOEGE8. 

chiefly with literary persons and with books. The most re- 
markable acquaintance of this early period of his life, was the 
comic poet Wycherley, who had been one of the ornaments of the 
preceding reign, and who, at the period of Pope's youth, was 
ending a long career of vice and literary labor by an old age of 
imbecility, neglect, and misery. 

Pope's first j)ublication was his Pastorals, which were print- 
ed in Touson's Miscellanies, in 1709. These were much admired, 
and immediately brought their author into notice. In 1712 his 
Rape of the Lock appeared ; a mock-heroic poem, in which he 
exhibits more invention than in any other of his productions. 
In 1713 he commenced his celebrated translation of Homer's 
Iliad. The Odyssey followed it in subsequent years. His 
" Dunciad " appeared in 1728 ; in which poem he overwhelmed 
with ridicule all those rival and antagonistic authors who had 
either given him personal offence, or whom he had been led to dis- 
like and despise for any reason whatever. The diction and ver- 
sification of this poem are very labored and polished ; but its 
imagery is often gross and indelicate ; and while he establishes 
his claim to the character of a satirist, by its keen and deadly 
intellectual stabs, his temper becomes degraded in the estima- 
tion of the reader, as a vindictive, uncharitable, and irascible 
hater. His best production is his " Essay on Man," and for all 
the noble sentiments contained in that work he was indebted to 
the richer, more profound, and more inventive genius of his 
friend, Lord Bolingbroke. Pope expired in 1744, in the fifty- 
sixth year of his age, having achieved the reputation of being 
the most polished writer of rhymes who, till then, had illustrated 
and adorned the English language. 

In addition to these great masters in the department of 
Belles-Lettres, other writers of less distinction added the lustre 
of their genius to the reign of George I. Prominent among 
these was John Gay, the author of the " Beggar's Opera, 
which was first produced in 1727, and attained a success which 
has been rarely equalled in the annals and vicissitudes of the 
drama. In the same rank, though at a considerable remove, 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FIRST. 89 

belong the names of Prior, Parnell, Rowe, and Tick ell ; all of 
whom have left productions which confer enduring honors on the 
English muse. The chief writers of fiction during this period 
were Defoe and Richardson. 

The reign of George I. was adorned by the life and labors of 
Sir Isaac Newton, the most illustrious of modern philosophers, 
although his chief fame had been won prior to the accession of 
that monarch to the throne. Contemporary with him were 
others, who displayed no mean ability in the same high sphere 
of intellectual endeavor. The most gifted of these was John 
Flamsteed, who, as an astronomer and natural philosopher, was 
but little inferior to Sir Isaac himself* Associated with these 
in the same pursuits were Halley, Arbuthnot, and Gregory, 
— names of enduring eminence in the history of the achievements 
of philosophy and astronomy in the eighteenth century. 

The ecclesiastical profession, during this reign, contained many 
churchmen of great talents and learning. As to the state of re- 
ligion and morals, it must be conceded that it was deplorable ; 
and that the political spirit, the party hatred and worldly ambi- 
tion exhibited by the vast majority of those who occupied the 
various ranks of the clerical and episcopal offices, indicated the 
prevalence of but little religious feeling. The two great univer- 
sities were regarded as the nurseries of young and aspiring ec- 
clesiastics, from which they went forth to gain the prizes and 
win the renown which devotion to the interests of their political 
and ecclesiastical party would inevitably secure for them. The 
most celebrated ecclesiastics of this era were Francis Atterbury, 
bishop of Rochester, Dr. Wake, afterward archbishop of Can- 
terbury, and Dr. Hoadley, bishop of Winchester ; all of whom 

* It is one of the many unaccountable phenomena in the history of literature, 
that the abilities of Flamsteed, which were of the first order, have been suffered 
by posterity to sink into oblivion, while they have ever been eager to accumulate 
■ttravagant praise on the overburdened head of Newton. The latter obtained 
M>me of his most important discoveries from his modest, unobtrusive, and now for- 
gotten friend. See " An Account of the Rev. John, Flamsteed, the First As- 
tronomer Royal ; Compiled from, his own Manuscripts, dec. By Francis Baily, 
F.R.S." ito, London, 1835. 



90 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOEGE8. 

were worldly, ambitious, and unscrupulous prelates. Of the. 
some class were Dr. Lockier, — the friend of Pope and of the 
most dissolute wits, — Dr. Younger, dean of Salisbury, and Dr. 
Chevenix, bishop of Waterford. A single circumstance, based" 
upon the most reliable historical authority, and having reference 
to the most celebrated churchman in the kingdom, will serve to 
illustrate the state of morals which then prevailed, to a great ex- 
tent, among the clergy of the establishment, in all their ranks - 
and grades. As soon as the death of Queen Anne was announced, 
the Duke of Ormond, Lord Mareshal, and Bishop Atterbury, all 1 
leading Tories and Jacobites, held a secret meeting, at which i 
the bishop earnestly besought Lord Mareshal to go forth im- • 
mediately, and publicly proclaim the Pretender in form. Ther: 
Duke of Ormond, who was of a more prudent and cautious- 
tempei-, desired first to confer on the subject with the council.., 
In answer to this proposal the right reverend prelate exclaimed," 
in great excitement : " Damn it, you know very well that things 
have not been concerted enough for that yet ; and that we have: 
not a moment to lose." * But it should not be supposed that, 
because an eminent prelate exhibited such irreligion and pro-- 
fanity, there were no men of piety among the clergy. It must, 
however, be admitted that their numbers were few, their posi- 
tions obscure, and their influence exceedingly limited. 

* Memoirs of the Court of England, from the Revolution of 1688 to the Death ' 
qf George II. By John H. Jesse. Vol. II., p. 153. 



PART II. 

LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOEGE THE SECOND. 



CHAPTER I. 



Mrth of George II.— His Removal to England— His Marriage — His Court in Leicester 
Houso — Commanding Talents of his Wife — Her Female Favorites — Prince Frederic 
— Hostility between him and his Parents — The Accession of George II. — He destroys 
his Father's Will — His Cabinet — He retains Robert Walpole — Duke of Newcastle- 
Earl of Chesterfield— Lord Carteret — His Remarkable Talents. 



jeorge Augustus, only son of George I. and Sophia Dorothea 
>f Zell, was born at Hanover on the 30th of October, 1683. 
His boyhood and youth were spent under the special tuition and 
nfluence of his talented and ambitious grandmother, Sophia, 
Electress of Hanover. He became well versed in the usual 
outine of accomplishments then prevalent among princes, and 
ivas able to speak Latin, French, and English with fluency. His 
aerson was small, his manners stiff, his bearing haughty and 
3onsequential. Ordinary as were the natural abilities of George 
those of his illustrious son were still more insignificant. Had 
lot the accident of his birth placed him in a position of eminent 
jnportance and influence, it is probable that he would have 
passed through life as one of the most contemptible of men. 

On the accession of George I. to the throne of England, in 
August, 1714, Prince George accompanied him to his new do- 
minions. But previous to this period, in 1705, the heir apparent 
had married Caroline Wilhelmina Dorothea, the daughter of 



92 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

John Frederic, Marquis of Brandenburg Anspach, a lady of su * 
perior mind and polished manners ; to whose greater intellectua 1 i 
strength her dapper husband always yielded an unconscious, ye' ! 
almost absolute obedience. The first fruit of their marriage was 1 
Prince Frederic, whom both parents cordially hated and despised' 
Their second son, William, afterwards Duke of Cumberland, Avar 
always their favorite. Nor were the relations which existed be 1 
tween George II. while Prince of Wales, and his august father- 
more friendly or more decorous. They did not speak to each other 
during some years.* Even the Princess Caroline was regarded by 
the monarch with feelings of aversion, and he indicated his sent 
timents by familiarly calling the future queen of England a shl< 
devil. It was the singular eccentricity of George I., that he hated 1 
all the members of his own family — those whom he should haw 
loved ; and that he loved only his selfish and perfidious mistresses: 
— those whom he should have despised and shunned. 

Several years before the accession of George II., he removed' 
his residence to the palace located in " Leicester Fields," in order 
to be removed to a greater distance from the presence of hiji 
father. Here were assembled in an embryo court, all those 
who were the attached friends and attendants of the Prince and- 
Princess, and were in bad odor with the reigning monarch. The' 
company included many persons remarkable for talents, birthf 
beauty, and accomplishments ; among whom were Lord Chester* 
field, Lord Hervey, Lord Stanhope, Miss Lepel, Lady Walpoled 
Mrs. Howard, who afterwards became the mistress of the soverr 
eign, and especially Miss Bellenden, the most beautiful woman' 
in England. It was not long before the Prince became fascinated' 1 
with the extraordinary charms, both of mind and person, whicljl 1 
this lady possessed ; and he made advances to her which could' 
not be mistaken. His method of wooing was accordant with" 
the inherent insignificance of his character. Remembering, and 
probably even imitating, the Grecian myth respecting the loved|'' 
of Jupiter and Dance, he was in the habit, when in Miss Bellen-i 

* Horace WalpoMs Letters, London, VI. Vols., Vol. I, p. 68. 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 93 

en's presence, of taking his purse from his pocket, and pouring 
is guineas from it into his lap. This operation he accompanied 
•ith significant glances directed to the lady. But the impression 
Inch he produced upon her, both by his person and by his gold, 
sems to have been very different from what he expected. In- 
;ead of adoring him as a second Jupiter, she satirized him as a 
illanous little bashaw offering to purchase a Circassian slave. 
>n one occasion she became so incensed at the conduct of her 
rincely admirer that she exclaimed : " Sir, I cannot bear it ; if 
ou count your money any more, I will instantly leave the 
3om." The prince having discovered that Miss Bellenden was 
roof against his seductions, turned to the conquest of another 
idy of the bed-chamber, less beautiful indeed, but more ne- 
essitous and more compliant. This person was Mrs. Howard. 
But the Prince of Wales was not a man of strong passions 
r capacities of any description ; and he seems to have main- 
lined the royal luxury of a mistress chiefly for the purpose of 
idicating to the world that he was not ruled by his wife. Never 
ras there a more egregious error, and one less successfully con- 
ealed. The Princess of Wales presided over her establishment 
i Leicester Fields with great dignity and decorum. In 1716 
he began to be regarded as the arbitress of fashion. She gath- 
red around her also, the most distinguished men of letters who 
domed the period ; among whom, Pope and Newton w r ere espe- 
ial favorites. The familiarity which seems to have existed be- 
ween the poet and the beautiful ladies of the bed-chamber seems 
o have been as indecorous as the ruder licence of those times 
•ermitted. It was at this date that the influence which one of 
hese ladies, Mrs. Clayton, whose maiden name was Dyves, ex- 
rcised over the mind of Princess Caroline became so great, that 
ler approbation was regarded as necessary to the success of any 
pplication which was made to her mistress. This lady was a 
voman of talent and shrewdness, who perfectly understood the 
ndependent and sagacious disposition of the princess ; and who 
learly discerned precisely how far she might presume to inter- 
ne in directing or influencing her opinions. She was also used 



94: HISTOKY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

by the princess to consolidate her own influence over her roya 
husband ; and the superior talents and discretion of Mrs. Claytoi 
deserved the degree of confidence which her mistress reposed ii. 
her. 

Mrs. Howard, the mistress of the Prince of "Wales, was 
woman of a different stamp. With the sacrifice of her virtue 
she made no sacrifice of principle or character, for she had non 
to lose. In early life she had married Mr. Howard, a youngs 
member of the great family of Suffolk. Both were very poo^ 
and the only dowry of the bride was her beauty. Before the ao 
cession of George I. Mr. and Mrs. Howard visited Hanover, foi 
the express purpose of securing the favor of the family to whom 
the royal dignities of England had fallen. It was said that, ir 
order to defray some of the expenses of this journey, Mrs. How 
ard was compelled to cut off* and sell her magnificent suit of hair 
Even then she accorded her secret favors to Prince George Aui 
gustus, and obtained a promise from him that, as soon as hit 
removed to England, he would appoint her one of the ladies of> 
the bed-chamber to his wife. All this was achieved in accordc 
ance with the wishes of the husband of Mrs. Howard, who seem* 
to have been a craven and ignominious wretch. But after the 
accession of George II. to the throne, it was with considerable 1 
difficulty and at some expense that he was disposed of by hiai 
subservient wife and her royal lover. His ultimate and obscure 
destiny is unknown. 

The chief source of annoyance to which the prince and prin- 
cess were subjected previous to their accession, was their aversiorii 
to their eldest son Frederic. It is difficult at this late day to as* 
certain with any certainty the real cause of that repugnance) 
though many reasons have been assigned for it. His parents did 
not permit him even to accompany them, when they first came tq 
England. He was born in 1707, and seems to have always exi 
hibited two predominating qualities, both of which were repulsive! 
and unamiable. These were his spitefulness and his cunning. 
His morals were always bad. He was addicted, from a very 4 
early period, to drinking, gaming, cheating, and gross licentious- 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 95 

ness. So completely had his conduct alienated the affections 
even of his mother, that she would have rejoiced had she been 
able to deprive him of his birthright ; and she would have ac- 
complished her purpose had not the colossal barrier of the law 
rendered her success absolutely impossible. Nor was Frederic 
allowed to visit England until after the accession of his father to 
the throne. In 1717 for the sake of decency, he was created 
Duke of Gloucester ; the next year the Garter was conferred 
upon him, and in 1726 he became Duke of Edinburgh. His life 
was stormy, dissolute, and short, and he was never destined to 
ascend the throne which fortune had so blindly bestowed upon 
his family. 

Previous to the accession of the Prince of Wales, and espe- 
cially during the several concluding years of the reign of his father, 
there may be said to have existed two courts and two sources of 
authority in England ; and it required the utmost craft and 
shrewdness on the part of the trimming courtiers and statesmen 
of the time, to conduct their relations with both courts in such a 
manner as not to lose the favor of the powers that were, and at 
the same time not tall under the ban of the powers that soon 
were to be. At length in June, 1727, the great event occurred 
which exercised so decisive an influence upon the destinies of the 
nation, and upon the fortunes of the courtiers. The haughty, 
pompous, consequential, diminutive Prince of Wales became 
George II., King of England, and Electoral Sovereign of Han- 
over. 

Information of the death of George I. was conveyed by ex- 
press to London on the afternoon of June 14th, 1727. His suc- 
cessor was then at Richmond, and thither a crowd of courtiers 
instantly rushed in order to tender their homage to the new sov- 
ereign. Among the number was Robert Walpole, the late 
prime minister ; who inquired of his majesty whom he would se- 
lect to draw up the usual address to the Privy Council. To his 
great disappointment the king named, not himself, but Sir Spen- 
cer Compton. This was as "much as to intimate to Sir Robert, 
that his services were no longer needed in the Cabinet. But the 



: 



: ; 



96 HISTOET OF THE FOTJK GEORGES. 

1 

wily and ambitious minister was not so easily to be dislodged 
from his ancient seat of influence and power. Compton foun 
himself utterly incompetent to perform the duty assigned him, 
and was compelled to have recourse to Sir Robert. The latter 
induced Compton to recommend an allowance only of sixty thou-' 
sand pounds per annum to the queen. Sir Robert immediately 
sent word to her majesty, that if he were retained as prime min- 
ister he would secure to her an allowance of a hundred thousan 
pounds. The queen was unable to withstand this potent bribe 
and exerted all her influence with the king to obtain the reten- 
tion of Walpole at the head of the administration. She succeed- 
ed ; and many years of additional power, anxiety, and glory 
were added to the political life of that extraordinary man. 

The Privy Council was then summoned. Dr. Wake, Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, produced the will of the late sovereign, 
laid it before his majesty, and waited with the rest of the cab- 
inet to hear his orders in reference to it. To the astonishment 
of the council, and to the utter dismay of the prelate, the king 
stuffed the will into his pocket, and abruptly walked out of the 
chamber. It is generally admitted that the document was afterward 
burnt, inasmuch as some of its details were not agreeable to the 
new sovereign.* Two copies of the will had been executed. 
One of these was deposited with the Duke of Wolfenbiittel, 
and the other with a German prince whose name has not tran- 
spired. Both of these copies were subsequently bought and de- 
stroyed by George II., so that the testamentary intentions of his 
father Avere entirely defeated. The latter could not have com- 
plained very much of this conduct, had he been living ; for he had 
himself destroyed two wills — that of his mother, Sophia Doro- 
thea, and that of the Duke of Zell. It is said that George I. had 
bequeathed forty thousand pounds to his surviving mistress, the 
Duchess of Kendal ; and had also given a large legacy to his 
daughter, the Queen of Prussia. With both of these legatees 
the monarch was afterwards compelled to compound, by the pay 
ment of a heavy sum. 

* Letters of Horace Walpole, VI. Vols. London, B. BentUy ; Vol. I. p. 83. 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 97 

George II. having concluded to retain Robert Walpole as 
prime minister, determined not to remove any of the members 
of his father's cabinet.* He ordered them all to be sworn anew. 
He declared his intention to preserve inviolate the constitution 
of the realm both as to church and state, and to maintain the 
same relations with foreign powers which had existed during the 
reign of his predecessor. Lord Townshend was appointed Sec- 
retary of State for foreign affairs. This nobleman was a relative 
of Walpole both by birth and by marriage. They had long 
been associated together in the many political changes and vicis- 
situdes which had occurred during preceding years. The dispo- 
sition of Lord Townshend was open, frank, and generous. He 
would have been an invaluable aid to Walpole, had not Walpole 
been one of the most ambitious and domineering of men. Towns- 
hend was willing to render his very respectable talents sub- 
servient to the ministerial supremacy of Walpole ; but he was 
not disposed to be treated as a slave or a menial. Accordingly 
he soon quarrelled with the premier and left the cabinet ; disgusted, 
as he well might be, with politics, and determined to be forever 
quit of the vexations and pollutions inevitably connected with 
them. 

The Duke of Newcastle was also retained in the new admin- 
istration. His birth was illustrious, his manners were popular 
and pleasing, his habits were lavish and ostentatious ; but his 
capacities were of the most ordinary description. His chief 
merit was his inordinate attachment to the House of Hanover. 
But his character was in many respects most insignificant and 
ludicrous ; so weak, indeed, that he would rush forth from the 
hands of his valet, with his face covered with soap, to embrace 
the envoy of the Sultan, in his joy at the establishment of friend- 

* It is an incident worthy of notice, that immediately after his accession 
George II. placed the portrait of a lady habited in the electoral robes of Han- 
over, in a conspicuous position in his bed-chamber. Her features were unknown 
to all the courtiers. It was the portrait of the king's mother, which he had con- 
cealed for many years from the krfowledge and the grasp of his father, and em- 
braced the first opportunity to produce and honor. Bee Jesse, Memoirs of the 
Court of England, Vol. II., p. 197. 

5 



98 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

ly relations between his sovereign and the Ottoman monarch 
Henry Pelham, the brother of the Duke of Newcastle, was re-j 
tained as Secretary of War. His talents were respectable, and 
resembled those of Walpole very much as the appearance and 
qualities of a cat may be supposed to resemble those of a tiger. 
Pelham was a safe and prudent debater in parliament ; he pos- 
sessed considerable talent for business ; his temper was yielding, 
and accommodating ; but at the same time it was timid and peev- 
ish. He possessed no large and capacious grasp of views. The 
circle of his vision was limited ; nevertheless within the area 
of that circle, he saw with the clearness and accuracy of tnei 
lynx. He endured a vast amount of tyranny from Wal 
pole, because he dreaded, above all other things, to be driven 
from the dignities and the ignominies of office. 

The Earl of Chesterfield was appointed Lord Steward. This; 
nobleman was celebrated as the most polite and polished gallant 
of his times ; as possessing great conversational wit ; as one who 
united in his own person the characters of an accomplished court- 
ier, a man of extreme fashion, and a writer of no mean literary* 
ability. Though he abhorred gross and vulgar licentiousness, hen 
was tarnished by all the elegant and refined vices of the times 
After quitting the University he made the tour of Europe 
Having returned to England he entered parliament for St. Ger 
mains in Cornwall. He became a favorite of George II. while 
Prince of Wales, and on the accession of that monarch, was ap- 
pointed a member of the Privy Council, and sent as ambas- 
sador to Holland. His chief defect was his fondness for gaming. 
In 1733 he married Melesina von Schulemberg, the daughter of 
George I. by the Duchess of Kendal. In the preceding year he 
had been dismissed from the cabinet in consequence of his oppo- 
sition in parliament to the passage of the Excise Bill, which was 
a favorite measure with George II. and his able prime minister. 

But the most remarkable man in every respect who held a 
place in the new cabinet, was Lord Carteret, afterward Earl of 
Granville. He was the most brilliant and powerful orator who 
had, previous to that period, displayed his abilities in the British 



LIFE &KD KEIGN OF GEORGE TIIE SECOND. 99 

parliament. His eloquence was rapid, stately, imposing and 
impressive. His commanding person and graceful manner set 
off his extraordinary talents to the greatest advantage. His 
learning was remarkable for its richness, accuracy and variety. 
He was familiar with all the most important languages of mod- 
ern Europe. His knowledge of the literature of ancient Greece 
and Rome was such as a Grotius or a Parr would not have dis- 
dained. His acquaintance with the great ecclesiastical writers 
of the Middle Ages would have conferred credit upon a Roman 
Catholic Doctor of Theology ; and the sophisms of Aquinas, 
Duns Scotus and Occam were neither secrets nor enigmas to 
his well stored mind. His opinions in International Law pos- 
sessed great depth and soundness. He alone of all the members 
of the cabinet could address the king in his native German ; and 
the facility with which he frequently poured forth his Teutonic 
gutturals in conversation with the monarch, excited the jealousy 
and apprehension of his less accomplished associates. Beside 
all this, Carteret was not merely a man of words. He was 
practical, utilitarian and effective ; and his measures were always 
prompt, decisive and adroit. In parliament no man dared to 
stand before him as a debater, and when at last his forensic glory 
was eclipsed, it was eclipsed by that of William Pitt alone. 
His temper was constantly cheerful and hopeful. The most dis 
astrous events never threw a cloud of sadness over his exultant 
spirits. He had but one vice, and that was a fondness for wine. 
When at last, after years of cooperation with Walpole, he retired 
with him from office, he alone descended from his eminence with an 
easy and willing grace, and retired laughing to the obscurity of pri- 
vate life; and soon convinced the world that neither ambition, re- 
sentment, nor jealousy was the ruling passion of his soul, but that 
he felt within him the raging of no other yearning except an in- 
satiable thirst. No man ever enjoyed the possession of power 
with less arrogance ; none ever resigned it with greater indiffer- 
ence, than Lord Carteret, Earl of Granville. 



CHAPTER II. 

Eevenues and Expenses of the Government— Spanish Aggressions on British Com-i 
merce — The Treaty of Vienna — "Walpole's Law of Excise— Marriage of the Princess. 
Anne to the Prince of Orange — Incidents connected with the Marriage — Mortifying, 
conduct of Erederic, Prince of "Wales— He leads the Opposition against Walpole — 
Motion to repeal the Septennial Parliament Aot— Increase of the National Forces: 
by Land and Sea. 

Such were the men who formed the cabinet of the second sover-: 
eign of the house of Hanover in England. The first measure 
which demanded the attention of parliament was the settlement 
of the civil list. The usual revenues of the government amount-: 
ed to eight hundred thousand pounds a year. Sir Robert Wal4 
pole proposed to allow the whole of this enormous sum for the 
regular use of the king. The measure met with some opposition.!. 
It was alleged that so great a revenue had never before beenn 
granted to any British monarch ; that during the reign of George- 
I. five hundred thousand pounds had twice been voted to dis- 
charge the debts which had accumulated on the civil list ; that a 
hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds had been voted for ai 
similar purpose but a short time before ; and that a debt of hall 
a million of pounds contracted by the late sovereign yet remained 
to be accounted for. But parliament was in a compliant mood, 
and granted every demand which was made of them, including a 
settled revenue of a hundred thousand pounds per annum for the 
queen, according to the lavish promise of the minister. 

In 1729 the attention of the British people was attracted to 
the outrages which had been committed upon their commerce in 
the West Indies by the Spanish cruisers. Parliament passed aa 
resolution, authorizing Admiral Hosier to seize the vessels of 



LIFE AOT) EEIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 101 

that nation which might fall in his way ; and an address was 
voted to his majesty desiring him to use his utmost exertions to 
procure satisfaction for the injuries which had been already per- 
petrated ; and especially that means should be taken to secure 
Gibraltar and Minorca. In accordance with these suggestions, 
a congress was soon convened at Seville, composed of diplo- 
matic representatives of England, France, and Spain, which set- 
tled upon favorable terms of pacification. When Parliament 
opened in January, 1730, the king informed them from the 
throne, that the peace of Europe was firmly established by the 
enactments of the treaty of Seville ; that Spain by that com- 
pact, had agreed to make ample reparation for all her depreda- 
tions in the West Indies ; and that the rights and possessions of 
his subjects every where were guaranteed. Notwithstanding 
these assurances, complaints were soon renewed that the former 
cruelties and injuries of the Spaniards in the Indies had only 
been suspended, and had again been resumed. «The Legislature 
presented another petition to the king, requesting the protection 
of the crown in behalf of those subjects who were engaged in 
commerce among those Islands. The sovereign devoted his im- 
mediate attention to a delicate matter which so nearly concerned 
both the honor and the interests of the nation ; and before par- 
liament was prorogued in May, 1731, he was able to inform them 
from the throne that another treaty had been signed at Vienna 
in the preceding March, which would effectually attain the results 
which had been fruitlessly attempted by the treaty of Seville ; 
that the Ostend East India Company should be totally abolished, 
and thus an end would be put to the pernicious rivalry which 
that corporation had so long maintained with the English Com- 
pany ; and that the previous dispute in reference to the sover- 
eignty of Parma and Placentia was amicably adjusted ; in ex- 
change for all which important advantages, the King of England 
only bound himself to adhere to the demands of the Pragmatic 
Sanction. The consummation of this treaty was due, in a great 
measure, to the able and skilful exertions of Robert Walpole ; 
whose whole administration was based upon the principle of pre- 



102 HISTOKY OF THE FOUK GEORGES. 

serving the general tranquillity of Europe, and the friendly rela- 
tions which existed between England and the continental powers ; 
and not permit the former to become involved either in any com- 
pacts or any wars which concerned simply the interests of the 
Hanoverian dominions of the king. 

It was in February, 1732, that the premier devised and pro- 
posed his celebrated project in reference to the duties of Excise. 
His intention was to effect a radical change in the national system 
of taxation. He contended that the taxes on real estate, and all 
immovable property, such as houses, lands, hearths, and win- 
dows, were oppressive, partial, and unjust ; while at the same time 
he thought that it was more equitable to lay taxes on consum- 
able articles, to which every citizen contributed in an exact pro- 
portion to his consumption. He desired to convert the greater 
part of the customs into excise taxes, or taxes laid upon com- 
modities both manufactured and consumed within the realm. In 
accordance with this plan, Walpole proposed a bill in parliament 
to revise the duties on salt, which had been repealed, in exchange 
for a land tax of a shilling in the pound. The most violent de- 
bates ensued in the House of Commons, in consequence of the in- 
troduction of this celebrated bill. The minister was charged by 
the opposition — among whom Pulteney shone forth preemi- 
nently for the unrivalled brilliancy and fervor of his eloquence — 
with the most malignant and perfidious designs against the lib- 
erties and the welfare of his country. These charges were re- 
pelled with equal fierceness and determination by the orators of 
the administration, led on by the dauntless Carteret ; and after 
a desperate conflict, the bill was passed by a majority of two 
hundred and seven votes over a hundred and thirty-five. In 
June, 1732, the king prorogued parliament, and announced his 
intention immediately to visit Germany, and receive the inves- 
titure of the Duchies of Bremen and Verden. He appointed 
Queen Caroline Eegent during his absence, who administered 
the government with much more energy, intelligence, and ability 
than her husband. 

At this period an event of importance occurred in the domes- 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 103 

tic affairs of the monarch. This was the marriage of his eldest, 
proudest, and vainest daughter, Anne, to the deformed and sickly 
Prince of Orange. The lady had already attained the mature 
age of twenty -five. The birth of brothers had defeated her in- 
heritance of that crown, respecting which she declared that, to 
be allowed to wear it for a single day she would willingly expire 
on the next. When she was sixteen years old, a match had been 
contemplated between her and Louis XV. To this high alliance 
the aspiring princess had no objection ; but it was eventually 
prevented by the fact that she was a Protestant, and that to have 
changed her religion would have destroyed the confidence of the 
British nation in the Protestantism of her whole family, thereby 
threatening the security of their throne. Years quickly rolled 
by, and the fair princess still remained unmarried. Equal suit- 
ors had not proposed ; unequal ones had not ventured to offer. 
At length the Prince of Orange, whose only merit was that he 
belonged to the high and mighty class of reigning princes, re- 
solved to interpose his own deformed figure between the prin- 
cess and her unwelcome solitude. At first the British sovereigns 
laughed outright at the proposition. Queen Caroline called the 
prince " an ugly animal." George II., who had seen his pro- 
posed son-in-law, abhorred him. Anne, who had formed her 
opinion of his person only from the exaggerated miniatures which 
his flatterers had executed of him, thought him at least endurable. 
Her father, aware of the sources from which her ideas had been 
derived, informed her that the prince was the ugliest man in 
Holland. She replied, in her determination no longer to be de- 
prived of something in the shape of a husband, that she would 
marry the prince " though he were a Dutch baboon." Her 
father sarcastically replied : " Then have your own way ; I 
promise you that you will have baboon enough." 

This fascinating bridegroom arrived at Greenwich in Novem- 
ber, 1732, and took up his residence at Somerset House. Be- 
fore the marriage could take place he fell sick. The ceremony 
was consequently postponed. It was not till the succeeding 
January that he was so far restored, as to be able to travel to 



lOi HISTORY OF THE FOTJK GEOKGES. 

Bath to imbibe renewed vigor and strength at that fashionable 
resort. In March his serene Highness had become to some ex- 
tent restored to health ; and announced himself as prepared to 
undertake the responsibilities of matrimony. On the 24h of 
March the ceremony was performed by the Bishop of London 
in the chapel of St. James. The groom was dressed for the oc- 
casion in a suit of cloth-of-gold. The princess was arrayed in 
robes of silver tissue, having a train six yards long, which was 
supported by the fair daughters of ten dukes and earls. The 
bride and groT>m were an odd-looking couple ; and their appearance 
was extremely ludicrous when, after the ceremony and the supper, 
they were put to bed and sat bolt-upright together in their night- 
dresses, while the court and nobility defiled before them, accord- 
ing to the established etiquette of the court. The princess was 
marked with small-pox, while her figure was short, fat, and 
shapeless. The bridegroom was absolutely deformed, and his 
person was remarkable for an odor which was neither agreeable 
in a prince nor a peasant. His figure was so peculiar that, 
while sitting in bed, when seen from behind he seemed to have 
no head ; when seen from before he appeared to have no legs. 
When Queen Caroline saw the ridiculous and melancholy spec- 
tacle presented by this hymeneal pair, she could scarcely retain 
her tears of mortification ; yet the absurdity of the scene in the 
next moment compelled her to laugh in despite of herself. 
Never had a more intensely serio-comic exhibition been made 
in the annals of royal marriages in England. When the matter 
of the dowry of the princess was proposed in parliament, the 
House resolved to sell lands in the island of St. Christopher to 
the amount of eighty thousand pounds, and appropriate that sum 
for the purpose. In justice to the Prince of Orange, it must be 
admitted that, though deformed in person, he was a man of in- 
telligence and good sense. His conduct was always marked by 
a proper regard for propriety and decency ; which redeemed 
him in a great measure from the derision occasioned by his phys- 
ical defects, and secured him the respect and esteem of his sub- 
jects. 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 105 

After the marriage, the Prince of Orange was conducted by 
his brother-in-law Frederic, the heir-apparent, to examine the 
wonders and novelties of the metropolis. A bill was also passed 
by parliament, conferring upon him the rights of a British sub- 
ject. The king further preferred a request to parliament that 
they would settle five thousand pounds per annum upon the 
Princess of Orange ; to which proposition they generously ac- 
ceded. In April, 1734, the bride and groom started for Holland. 
The match seemed to be a happy one. The princess at least ap- 
peared to be pleased with her husband, and treated him with 
great tenderness and affection ; which was reciprocated by him, 
not with ardor indeed, but with the solemn and honest phlegm 
which characterized his nation. The queen was satisfied, not- 
withstanding her previous apprehensions, that the happiness of 
her daughter had not been sacrificed by the alliance. 

It was well that no domestic anxiety tormented the king and 
queen from this source, inasmuch as they found a constant cause 
of vexation and mortification in the conduct of their eldest son, 
Frederic. Parliament allowed this prince a hundred thousand 
pounds a year ; of which sum his father only paid over fifty 
thousand. In his rage he joined the opposition, and became its 
most violent and vindictive leader. His parents cordially detested 
him for his debauched morals, for his disrespect to them, for his 
opposition to the government, and for the general worthlessness 
of his character. It was fortunate for the British Empire that he 
never ascended the throne. He feared his mother, with great 
justice, more than he did his father. He readily perceived her 
intellectual and moral superiority. It was she who vanquished 
Lord Stair in a set argument, and humbled him as he never be- 
fore had been humbled.* It was she who overawed the satirical 
and irreverent spirit of Lord Chesterfield ; who removed the in- 

* This nobleman had been selected by a large number of peers to wait upon 
the Queen, and represent to her the unconstitutional nature and the destructive 
tendency of Walpole's great measure in reference to the excise. This was a 
favorite scheme with Caroline as well as with her minister ; and Lord Stair, 
though a man of talent and experience, found that he was no match for the 
shrewdness and resolution of the Queen. 
5* 



106 HISTORY OP THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

tense hatred which her husband had felt, on his accession to the 
throne, against Eobert Walpole ; and who continued him firmly 
seated in his high place for many years, so that he was generally 
called, with perfect truth, the Queen's minister.* Yet notwith- 
standing all her sense, prudence, and decorum, the hatred of the 
queen against her eldest son was so intense, that on more than 
one occasion she declared that she would rejoice at his death ; 
and upon him alone of all her family or subjects was she unable 
to impress any sentiment of esteem or affection. The union of 
the prince with the Opposition gave that party great courage and 
energy. They took countenance from the fact that their measures 
were supported by the heir apparent, who might at any moment, 
by the sudden demise of the king, ascend to the supreme conduct of 
affairs ; and they thus rendered the position of the minister one 
of increased difficulty, and that of the nation one of more immi- 
nent danger. 

An important illustration of this fact, may be found in the 
effort which was made by the opposition in the session of 1734, 
to repeal the Act authorizing septennial parliaments. These 
were represented as a flagrant encroachment upon the rights of 
the people ; as giving a pernicious degree of power to the crown ; 
and as being the cause of many great evils and misfortunes to the 
state. The motion to repeal the Act was supported with great 
ability ; especially by Sir William Windham, who on this occa- 
sion gave utterance to a burst of eloquence which has since be- 
come classical. Sir Robert Walpole answered him with equal 
effect, and defied the enemies of the government to point out a 
single instance in which the nation had been injured by the oper- 
ation of the existing law. His resolute efforts prevailed, after a 
desperate conflict, in which the whole strength of both parties 
was fully exerted and displayed ; and the motion to repeal was 

* We may call this a very great triumph on the part of the Queen, for her 
husband was one of the most obstinate of men. George II. under her influence, 
finally became enthusiastic in praise of Walpole; called him a "noble fellow" 
and frequently shed tears when speaking of his heroic battles in Parliament 
with the opponents of the Government. Down's Queens, Vol. I., p. 253. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE SECOND. 107 

lost by two hundred and forty-seven votes against a hundred and 
eighty-four. 

A further effort was made during the same session to limit 
the authority of the monarch by the passage of a law, which took 
away his power to divest officers of their military commissions, 
otherwise than by the judgment of a court martial, or by an ad- 
dress of either house of parliament. This motion gave great 
alarm to the court ; as it was supposed that the passage of such 
a law would render the military arm of the government inde- 
pendent in a great degree of the sovereign ; and as giving licence 
to the commission of every species of military cruelty and op- 
pression. An animated debate again ensued, after which the 
motion was lost by an overwhelming majority. The ability, 
tact, and secret bribes of the prime minister continued to carry 
the government successfully through all its proposed measures, 
during several successive sessions of parliament. He triumphed 
on the motion to grant the king a supply of sixty thousand 
pounds to increase his forces by sea and land ; on the motion to 
allow a subsidy to the King of Denmark, in accordance with the 
requisitions of an existing treaty ; on the motion to repeal the 
ancient statutes which still disgraced the nation in reference to 
witchcraft and conjuration ; and in its opposition to the motion 
which was introduced in March, 1736, to repeal all those clauses 
of the test act which obstructed the admission of Protestant Dis- 
senters to civil employments under the government, which 
measure was represented by the administration to be at that 
time premature and impolitic. 



CHAPTEK III. 

Domestic Life of George II.— Quarrels with Prince Frederic— The King's Visit to Han- 
over — Singular Correspondence between the King and Queen — The Monarch's Con- 
tempt for the Bishops — Marriage of Prince Frederic proposed — First Speech of 
"William Pitt in Parliament— The Princess Augusta of Saxe-Coburg— Her Marriage 
to the Heir Apparent— Her Arrival in England — Visit of George II. to Hanover — 
His Intrigue with Madame Walmoden— Popular Satires and Caricatures of the 
Monarch at Home. 

The domestic life of George II. at this period was not one of 
much comfort, dignity, or decency. In 1734 Mrs. Howard, who 
for some years had been his mistress, married, and was dis- 
missed from her disgraceful relation to the monarch. It is prob- 
able that the immediate cause of her dismissal was an adroit 
effort on the part of the talented queen to crush her rival, in 
which the polished Lord Chesterfield was made an unconscious 
tool.* The treatment which the king bestowed upon Frederic, 
the Prince of Wales, was probably such as he deserved. The 
prince frequently attended the levees of his royal father, on 
which occasions it was curious to observe how completely the 
latter ignored his presence. He would pass by him, stand near 
him, and converse with courtiers next to him, and never seem 
to be conscious of his presence. Lord Harvey, in his memoirs, 
describes with great effect the skill which the king exhibited in 

* It would appear that different sentiments were entertained by the members 
of the royal family in reference to this event. The Princess Anne, who had 
married the handsome Prince of Orange, being in England at the time, remarked : 
" I wish with all my heart that the king would take somebody else, that mamma 
might be a little relieved from seeing him eternally in her room." Dorans 
Queens of the House of Hanover, Vol. I., p. 262. 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 109 

thus pointedly and repeatedly giving the cut direct to his de- 
tested son. " It put one in mind," says the supple courtier, " of 
stories that one has heard of ghosts that appear to part of the 
company and were invisible to the rest ; and in this manner, 
wherever the prince stood, though the king passed him ever so 
often, or ever so near, it always seemed as if the king thought 
the prince filled a void space." 

In 1735 the king made another visit to Hanover. He ap- 
pointed the queen regent during his absence, which he expected 
would continue during half a year. The conduct of the monarch 
on this occasion was singular and disgraceful in the extreme. 
He wrote almost daily to the queen enormous letters containing 
thirty or forty pages, in every line of which he loaded her 
with praises.* At the same time he seduced a young mar- 
ried lady named Walmoden, residing in the City of Hanover ; 
had the turpitude to induce her to desert her husband ; and dis- 
graced her and him in the eyes of the whole world by making her 
his acknowledged mistress. To render his conduct still more 
singular, in his interminable letters to his queen he gave her all 
the details of this amour, and even asked her advice in reference 
to the woman's removal to England, and bespoke for her the 
affection of his wife ! He also urged her to invite the daughter of 
the Duke of Orleans to visit her court, in order that he might 
have an opportunity to commence an intrigue with her. In re- 
gard to some of these interesting points, he suggested to her that 
she should consult with Sir Eobert Walpole as an oracle of sa- 
gacity and wisdom. We question whether a parallel to such 
incidents could be found in the whole range of royal or princely 
correspondence. 

On the 26th of October the king returned to England, leav- 
ing behind him his new mistress, Madam Walmoden, and with 

* The language of the king was, in part, as follows : " Un plaisir, que je 
suis sur, ma chere Caroline, vous serez bien aise de me procurer, quand je vous 
dis combien je le souhaite." See Lord Ilervefs Memoirs of (lie Court of Queen 
Caroline. This young nobleman was chamberlain to the Queen, her constant 
attendant, her chief confidant and her favorite. 



110 HISTORY OF THE FOUK GEOEGES. 

her his good temper. On his arrival at the palace of Kensington, 
he treated his queen and family with unusual petulance and rude- 
ness. He missed the wanton and fascinating charms of Walmo- 
den ; he preferred the small Electorate of Hanover, where his 
power was absolute ; and he felt vexed at his return to a family 
who either despised or abused him — and to a kingdom where his 
tyranny was restrained by the operation of law, and by the bold- 
ness and resolution of a great people. At breakfast he snubbed 
the queen, and told her that she was always stuffing. He ac- 
cused the Princess Caroline of growing abominably fat ; and he 
charged the Duke of Cumberland with standing as awkwardly 
as a monkey. The irate monarch seemed on this occasion to be 
pleased with nobody. Lord Hervey having remarked to him 
that a work of Bishop Hoadly on the sacraments had just ap- 
peared, he replied, that " he was always talking of such non- 
sense, and that were it not that there were fools to speak of such 
things, the fools who wrote such books would never think of 
publishing their nonsense, thereby disturbing the government by 
their disputes." The monarch then fell upon the character of the 
learned and pious prelate in question, and called him " a great 
puppy, a very dull fellow, and a very great rascal." He con- 
tinued by saying : " It is very modest for a canting hypocritical 
knave to be crying that the kingdom of Christ is not of this 
world, at the same time that he, as Christ's ambassador, receives 
seven thousand pounds a year ; and is ready to receive the best 
pay for preaching the Bible, though he does not believe a word 
of it." During this outburst the skilful queen did her best, by 
smiling and nodding assent at the proper places to win the favor 
of her husband ; but all to no purpose, as he concluded by snub- 
bing her again, in reference to her grotto in Richmond Gardens. 
The indignant and petulant little monarch only regained his usual 
temper after he had written several immense letters to the ab- 
sent Walmoden ; to whom he promised to return, to receive the 
renewal of her hypocritical and purchased embraces on the 29th 
of the ensuing May. 

In 1735 Prince Frederic, the heir apparent threatened to 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOKGE TIIE SECOND. Ill 

jring the matter of his limited pecuniary allowance before par- 
liament. To avoid the disgrace and vexation of this step, Queen 
Caroline adroitly proposed to marry the prince to somebody, 
and at the same time provide for him a more suitable establish- 
ment. She readily obtained the consent of the king to this 
measure ; and the royal matchmakers looked around for a suit- 
able bride. At this time the prince had two mistresses, Miss 
Vane, and Mrs. Archibald Hamilton, already the mother of ten 
children. These, however, were no impediments to the accom- 
plishment of the proposed marriage. At first the king wished 
to unite the prince to the eldest daughter of the King of Prussia ; 
and suggested at the same time, that his second daughter should 
marry the king's eldest son. Proposals to this effect were made 
in due form ; but the Prussian monarch replied that if he gave 
his eldest daughter to the Prince of Wales, he would require the 
eldest daughter of the British monarch for his son. Queen 
Caroline would have consented to this arrangement ; but her 
husband was inflexible. His refusal excited the most ungovern- 
able fury in the royal madman who ruled in Prussia ; and the 
two monarchs reviled each other, in consequence, in the grossest 
language. The quarrel became more and more violent ; until at 
last it ended in one of the most singular incidents which ever oc- 
curred in the history of royal animosities. They determined to 
settle the dispute by a duel. These two fathers, sovereigns, al- 
lies, and brothers-in-law, determined to meet on, the field of blood, 
and settle their controversy by an attempt at each other's lives. 
The territory of Hildesheim was the spot chosen for this extra- 
ordinary scene. The British monarch selected General Sutten 
for his second. The King of Prussia conferred a similar distinc- 
tion on Colonel Derschein. George was to reach the battle- 
ground by travelling from Hanover. Frederic was to confront 
him by passing through Saltzdahl. All the fearful preliminaries 
were definitely arranged, except the single item of the time of the 
conflict. On this point the combatants could not agree. Their re- 
spective advisers and courtiers, perceiving the unutterable folly and 
foolishness of the dispute, and its proposed conclusion, continued 



112 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

to raise difficulties on both sides in reference to this point, to 
procrastinate, and eventually to defeat the belligerent purposes 
of the two monarchs entirely. The royal duel never occurred ; 
and posterity, instead of sighing at the miserable weakness, may 
more comfortably laugh at the ridiculous absurdity, of the whole 
transaction ; although great coldness continued to exist between 
the courts of London and Berlin for many years in consequence 
of this quarrel. 

Queen Caroline at length proposed a suitable bride for the 
heir apparent, the handsome and accomplished Princess Augusta 
of Saxe Coburg. Lord Delaware was sent to demand her hand 
from her brother, the Duke of Saxe Coburg. The proposition was 
very agreeable to that petty monarch, and the match was quickly 
agreed upon. The subject of the prince's marriage was pro- 
posed in parliament for the first time in the beginning of April, 
1736. In the following session, Mr. Pulteney moved that a 
hundred thousand pounds per year should be settled on the 
prince, out of the civil list. It will be observed that the propo- 
sition was, not to vote this sum directly to the prince, but to de- 
duct it from the immense revenue of a million already allowed 
for the regular expenses of the government. It was on this oc- 
casion that William Pitt, the most illustrious and powerful 
statesman who has guided the destinies of the British nation, 
made his first speech in that Legislature which was destined, 
during thirty memorable years of conflict, disaster, and glory, to 
be the theatre of his prodigious achievements and abilities. The 
House of Commons moved an address to the king. Pitt had lis- 
tened to the debates for several months in silence. On this oc- 
casion he arose and addressed the house on the side of the oppo- 
sition to the government. His splendid person, his graceful 
delivery, his sonorous and melodious voice, his boldness of man- 
ner, and the temerity of his sentiments, at once attracted to the 
young cornet the attention of every member. The substance of 
his effort was not remarkable for any thing but the magnificent 
and brilliant declamation which characterized it. Nevertheless 
the effort was a worthy introduction to that long series of ora- 



LITE AJSTD REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 113 

jrical displays which, improving with the progress of time in sub- 
tantial merit, will remain to the end of time the most admirable 
diich any British statesman has ever achieved. After an ani- 
mated debate the motion of Pulteney was lost ; but it was lost 
y a majority only of thirty votes. Never before had the gov- 
irnmen-t been so nearly defeated since the accession of George 
I ; and the event struck terror into the hearts of his courtiers 
,nd servants. 

Prince Frederic was compelled to accept such a support as 
lis royal father was disposed to allow him. The yacht William 
md Mary was sent to convey the young bride, seventeen years 
)f age, to the British shores. She arrived at Greenwich on the 
25th of April, 1736, and attracted general admiration by her 
jheerful manner, her healthy appearance, and her elegant attire. 
3he first set foot on the soil of her adopted country on Saint 
George's day ; an incident which was deemed auspicious to the 
future fate of the princess who was destined to be the mother of 
the first king born and reared in England since the birth of 
James II. As soon as she had landed, the king, queen, and other 
members of the royal family sent her their compliments. The 
next day her intended husband reached Greenwich, where she 
still remained, and the first interview took place between them. 
The princess was conveyed in one of the royal carriages to Lam- 
beth. Her reception at St. James Palace was cheerful and even 
magnificent. On her arrival at the palace, the bridegroom took 
her hand and conducted her into the presence chamber of the 
monarch, where the whole court had been assembled. As she 
approached her future father-in-law, she prostrated herself before 
him. She had been informed that the haughty and punctilious 
little king would be gratified by such a profound act of homage. 
He courteously raised her from the floor, kissed her on each 
cheek, and handed her over to the embraces of the queen. The 
princess, who was unaccompanied by a single friend, behaved 
on this somewhat trying occasion with extraordinary self-posses- 
sion and grace. She won the admiration of all observers, except 



114 HISTOKY OF THE FOUB GEOKGES. 

that of a few venerable females of the court, in whose breasti 
jealousy absorbed every other sentiment. 

On the evening of the day of the arrival of the princess, the ma: 
riage was celebrated at St. James's by the Bishop of London, deal 
of the Royal Chapel. After the ceremony was concluded, a sup 
per followed. When the hour arrived for the observance of thai 
most ridiculous of royal ceremonies, the " bedding " of the youtl 
ful pair, the bride was conducted to her sleeping apartment b; 
her attendant ladies, where she was disrobed and arrayed in he: 
night dress. While this was going forward, Prince Frederic w; 
undergoing the same process in another apartment, where the 
king did him the honor to hand him his shirt, and even aid in 
putting it on. The princess having been placed in her bed, 
her husband was conducted thither by several noblemen. He 
was arrayed in a night-gown of silver stuff, and a cap of the 
finest lace. The attire of the princess consisted of a night- 
dress of equal elegance. The prince took his place in bed 
beside his wife ; and both sat upright to give the courtiers 
an opportunity to behold this rare and edifying spectacle. 
After the royal family and all the court had sufficiently sat- 
isfied their curiosity, they gradually withdrew, the lights were 
put out, the doors were locked, and the young couple were left 
to themselves. 

When the end of May arrived the king repeated his visit to 
Hanover, as he had promised his fascinating Walmoden that he 
would do. He again appointed the queen regent during his 
absence. As Walpole was the favorite minister of the queen, 
the kingdom was governed during the absence of the monarch 
on the same principles as during his presence. On this occasion 
the peace of the kingdom was disturbed by riots in the western 
counties, which were caused by attempts to prevent the exporta- 
tion of corn ; by riots in London occasioned by the presence of 
Irish laborers who offered to work for less wages than the Ensr- 
lish ; by riots in Edinburgh in consequence of the execution of 
a noted and desperate smuggler. While the queen regent and 
her able minister were suppressing these commotions, and pre- 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 115 

erving the peace of the kingdom as best they could, the amorous 
ing was still luxuriating in the society of the fair Walmoden in 
Hanover ; and so potent had her charms become over her royal 
lupe, who was old enough to be her father, that he overstayed 
lis birthday. This was an event which had never before 
occurred ; and the consciousness of its disgraceful cause in- 
licted intense suffering upon the heart of the queen. Once 
pnly was she seen by her confidants to weep. She instantly 
mastered her feelings, probably being consoled by the just re- 
flection that the worthless and conceited libertine whom she 
had the misfortune to call husband was unworthy of her sen- 
sibility. 

But while the conduct of the king afflicted his wife, he became 
annoyed, as he deserved to be, by the discovered unfaithfulness 
of his mistress. He ascertained that she gave secret interviews 
to Captain von Schulemberg, a relative of the Duchess of 
Kendal. In the midst of his mortification, and in accordance 
with the folly and meanness of his character, he wrote to the ,, 
queen on the subject of his cuckoldry, and asked her advice under 
such painful circumstances ! At the same time he desired her to 
consult with Walpole, as a man " who has more experience in 
these matters, my dear Caroline, and who, in the present affair, 
must necessarily be more unprejudiced than I am." The king 
himself thought that the best expedient would be to convey the 
fair but perfidious Walmoden to England. Meanwhile his despi- 
cable conduct began to excite the public derision and contempt. 
Caricatures and pasquinades against him flooded the streets of 
the metropolis. A famished old blind horse, with a saddle and 
a pillion behind it, was sent hobbling through the streets, with 
an inscription attached to its forehead requesting that nobody 
would stop him as he was the " King's Hanoverian Equipage 
going to fetch his majesty and his mistress over to England." 
A written notice was boldly affixed to the front of St. James's 
Palace as follows : " Lost or strayed out of this house, a man who 
has left a wife and six children on the parish. Whoever will give 
any tidings of him to the churchwardens of St. James's parish, 



116 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

will receive four shillings and sixpence. Nobody supposes that 
he is worth a crown* From incidents such as these it will not' 
be difficult to estimate the real opinion which the majority off 
the subjects of the second George entertained of his public 
character, and his private worth. 

* Lord Servers Memoirs of the Court of Queen Caroline. 



GHAPTEK IV. 



George II. embarks for England— A Storm arises — Apprehensions for his Fate — He nar- 
rowly escapes Shipwreck — Congratulations of the Royal Family and of Parliament 
— Revenues of Prince Frederic— Coarseness and Vulgarity of the King and Queen — 
Confinement of the Princess of Wales — Disgraceful feuds in the Eoyal Family — De- 
clining health of the Queen — Domestic Scenes — The Queen's last Illness — Her 
Death — Ridiculous Conduct of the Bereaved Monarch. 



George II. took his leave of the capital of his Hanoverian do- 
minions, to return to England, on the 7th of December. On 
the night previous to his departure the fair and fascinating AYal- 
moden entertained her royal lover with a sumptuous farewell 
supper, at which both wine and tears were shed abundantly. 
The king having reluctantly torn himself away from the siren, 
arrived at Helvoetsluys on the eleventh ; and although his 
daughter, the Princess of Orange, lay at that moment very dan- 
gerously ill at the Hague, he hurried on without even inquiring 
into her condition, or sending her any message of condolence. 
He immediately embarked on board the royal squadron ; and 
then ensued a series of thrilling incidents which very nearly 
changed the future destinies of the British succession. While 
the inhabitants of London were expecting to hear of the safe ar- 
rival of the king at Harwich, the wind suddenly changed, a hur- 
ricane blew from the west with terrific violence, and such an un- 
paralleled storm swept over the deep, that every one concluded 
that, if the king had embarked, he had inevitably gone to the 
bottom. The excitement in London and in the court, in reference 
to the royal fate, became intense. Bets were laid upon the issue. 
The adroit and provident Walpole began to discuss with the 
queen the probable results which would follow, should their fears 



118 HISTOEY OF THE FOUE GEOEGES. 

in reference to the king "be realized. The queen became greatl 
agitated ; for she knew that if Frederic, Prince of Wales, the: 
succeeded to the throne, her fate would be an unenviable one, in 
consequence of the hostile feeling existing between them. While 
this state of anxiety continued, news of disasters at sea began to 
reach London. Signals of distress had been heard at Harwich, 
booming over the face of the troubled waters. It was supposed 
that these came from the foundering royal fleet — the solemn fu- 
neral dirge of the drowning monarch. While the tempest still 
raged over land and sea, and while the apprehension was at the 
highest, a courier from the king arrived at St. James's, who had 
miraculously escaped the devouring waves ; and informed the 
queen that her husband had never embarked at all, but that he 
was taking his. comfort contentedly at Helvoetsluys, awaiting 
the arrival of fair weather and propitious winds. 

The king became impatient of delay, and as soon as the 
storm had partially lulled, he informed Sir Charles Wager that 
he had determined to embark. The Admiral declared that he 
judged the weather to be still unsettled, and the sea dangerous. 
" Be the weather what it may," said the king, " I am not afraid." 
" I am," responded the veteran seaman. The king answered 
that he wanted to see a storm, and would sooner be twelve hours 
in one, than be shut up twenty-four in Helvoetsluys. " Twelve 
hours in a storm ! " exclaimed the Admiral : " four hours would 
do the business for you." After some further delay the im- 
patience of the monarch prevailed, and the fleet set sail. A 
tempest still more terrible than the first instantly arose, and the 
condition of the royal fleet became perilous in the extreme. Sir 
Charles made signal for every vessel to provide for its own safe- 
ty ; and immediately endeavored to regain the port of Helvoet- 
sluys by tacking. Meanwhile at London, with the renewal of 
the storm, the public anxiety was increased. It was Christmas ; 
and never before had so dull a holiday been known in the palace 
of St. James. Walpole informed the queen of the more assured 
apprehensions now entertained by her subjects as to the king's 
fate ; and she burst into tears at the announcement of his certain 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 119 

langer. The day was also Sunday, and the queen determined, 
notwithstanding her intense anxiety, to attend divine service as 
usual. In the midst of the service, she received a letter from the 
king's own hand, in which he told her to dismiss her fears, and 
informed her that he indeed had embarked, that the royal fleet 
had been scattered by the storm, that he had been tossed about 
for twenty hours on the deep, in constant danger of death ; but 
that he had at last reached Helvoetsluys, and that he was alive 
jand safe. During the interval of suspense which prevailed in 
London, the query rapidly passed from mouth to mouth, " how 
is the wind for the king 1 " and the answer uniformly given was : 
" Like the nation ; against him." 

The escaped and impatient monarch had seen enough of storms. 
He had been terribly shaken by its violence ; and nothing could 
induce him to venture again upon the treacherous deep, until the 
weather seemed most unmistakably propitious. He delayed, there- 
fore, five weeks in port, and at length embarked, made a success- 
ful voyage, and arrived in London on the 15th of January, 1737; 
greatly to the joy of the queen, Robert Walpole, and the court 
of St. James, and as greatly to the regret of the Prince of Wales ? 
the opposition, and the diminutive court in Leicester House. 

No sooner were the congratulations tendered to the king in 
consequence of his escape concluded, than he was again annoyed 
by the introduction into parliament of the question of the rev- 
enue of his detested son Frederic. Walpole did his utmost to 
prevent this result ; but the friends of the prince, especially Lord 
Carteret, were not to be deterred from their purpose either by 
entreaties or by threats. The prince demanded an absolute and 
regular income of a hundred thousand pounds per year. A com- 
promise was proposed by Walpole in the name of the king, 
which was declined by the prince, because it was inadequate to 
his necessities. After an animated debate in the House of Com- 
mons, the bill was lost by a small majority ; but this victory of 
the court was gained only by heavy bribes to leading members, 
amounting to several thousand pounds. The same proposition 
was lost in the House of Peers by a still greater majority ; al- 



120 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

though it was there supported by all the eloquence and resolu- 
tion of "Lord Carteret. 

It will readily be supposed that these disputes in the royal 
household increased the ill feeling already existing between ita 
members. This was the fact ; and they were not backward or 
decorous in expressing their cordial hatred and disgust of each 
other. Prince Frederic, according to court etiquette, led his 
royal mother to dinner by the hand every day ; and yet she re- 
peatedly " cursed the day in which she had given birth to thatt 
nauseous beast." His sister, the Princess Caroline, was equally,' 
malignant, and prayed publicly and repeatedly that " God would! 
strike the brute dead with apoplexy." The king spoke of himi 
always as " a brainless, impertinent puppy and scoundrel." ' 
Such was the singular state of feeling prevalent among the mem- ■ 
bers, both male and female, of this exalted and exemplary fam- 
ily* 

The chief defect in the character of the queen was the coarse-; 
ness and bitterness exhibited by her in reference to this subject { 
These qualities she displayed on many occasions and in different j 
ways. The king having remarked to her that he understood 
that Lords Carteret, Chesterfield, and Bolingbroke, were each' 
writing the history of their times, she replied that the three his- 
tories would be three heaps of lies ; but they would be lies of 
very different descriptions. Bolingbroke's would be great lies, 
Chesterfield's would be little lies, and Carteret's would be lies 
of both sorts. We may admit the wit, and even the truth of 
this sarcasm, but it would be difficult to excuse its coarseness 
and indelicacy when emanating from a woman. 

The attention of the royal family and of the public was now 
attracted to the anticipated birth of a lineal heir to the throne. 
The Princess of Wales was near her confinement. When Queen 
Caroline was informed of the fact, she immediately expressed 

* The Memoirs of Lord Hervey furnish throughout the most abundant evi 
dence that the representations above given of the hostility which existed be- 
tween the prince and bis relatives are not exaggerated, nor even fully equal to 
the revolting truth. 



k 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 121 

her determination to be present, inasmuch as she doubted the genu- 
ineness of the pregnancy. She declared that her son, the prince, 
was such an " infamous liar," and so " great a knave," that he 
would willingly attempt to impose a false issue upon the nation. 
Moreover, she added : " I am resolved to be satisfied that the 
child is the princess's ; and it can't be got through with " — she 
iadded with characteristic coarseness, " as S'Jflfc as one can blow 
one's nose ! " To aid in preventing an imposition the king gave 
a peremptory order to the prince that the birth should take place 
at Hampton Court Palace. 

As the period of the accouchement of the princess approached, 
her husband resolved to defeat the interference and scrutiny of 
his parents, and remove his wife to his own residence at St. 
James's Palace. He accomplished this purpose at midnight on 
the 31st of July, only several hours before her delivery. She 
was secretly conveyed thither in a carriage, even after her suffer- 
ings had begun ; and she came near dying before she reached the 
termination of her journey, her husband constantly urging her 
to take courage, and assuring her that " it was nothing, and 
would soon be over." The princess was safely delivered, how- 
ever, in the presence of as many of the great officers of the crown 
as could be summoned under the circumstances. The Lord Pres- 
ident Wilmington and Lord Privy Seal Godolphin were the 
chief of these. Lord Hervey and Queen Caroline soon afterward 
arrived ; and the former describes the infant as a " little rat no 
bigger than a toothpick case." The queen, taking the child in her 
arms, closely scrutinized it, and exclaimed : " May the good God 
bless you, poor little creature, for you have arrived in a most 
disagreeable world." And the subsequent fate, dui-ing many 
long years, of this infant, who proved to be a daughter, amply 
verified the declaration of the queen ; for she afterward became 
the wife of the Duke of Brunswick, and the mother of the un- 
happy spouse of George IV., in connection with both of whom 
she suffered infinite sorrows. 

But the birth of this princess did not alleviate the existing 
family feuds. After an interval of nine days the queen again 
6 



122 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

visited her daughter-in-law. She remained an hour, during the 
whole of which time the Prince of Wales did not address a single 
word to his mother. Etiquette required that he should conduct I 
her both to his chamber and from it ; but he performed even this j 
duty in such a manner as to render his courtesy a vehicle of i 
contempt. It must be admitted that the queen had some excuse I 
for the indecoroii^and bitter hostility which, during many years, 
she exhibited toward the heir apparent to the throne. This was 
the last occasion on which they ever met each other ; so unexpect- 
edly near was the death of the queen, and so implacable was 
her hatred, that during her last hours the very name of her son 
elicited the most intense execration. On the part of the prince, 
he publicly boasted what he would do when he became king. 
His mother should be fleeced, flayed, and minced. The Princess 
Amelia should be kept in strict confinement. He would leave 
the Princess Caroline to starve. Of the youngest princesses, 
Mary and Louisa, at that time fourteen and thirteen years of 
age, he made no particular mention ; nor of his brother, the 
Duke of Cumberland, who during all his life had been the spe- 
cial favorite of his parents. Efforts were indeed made by the 
Princess of Wales, by the Duke of Newcastle, and by other 
courtiers to heal this unseemly and disgraceful feud, but all to no 
purpose.* The same hostile sentiments continued to exist until 
the father, mother, and son, all reposed in the dreamless slumber 
of the tomb. In this domestic controversy the prince stood ar- 
rayed against his whole family. George II. himself was as bitter 
as his queen ; but the undutiful conduct of his son produced far 
less effect upon his spirit, than upon that of his more susceptible 
wife. His nature was too cold, too selfish, too unsympathizing, 



* This will readily be believed when it is remembered that the Queen, in 
speaking of her detested " Fritz," thus addressed herself to Lord Hervey : " My 
dear Lord, I will give it you under my hand, if you have any fear of my re- 
lapsing, that my dear first-born is the greatest ass, the greatest liar, the greatest 
canaille, and the greatest beast, in the whole world ; and that I most heartily 
wish he was out of it." What a singular utterance of maternal feeling is this, 
in reference to the first offspring of conjugal affection ! 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 123 

to be lacerated by any misfortune which did not directly affect 
either his pocket, his prerogatives, his safety, or his pleasures. 

In 1737 Queen Caroline began to feel the certain approach 
of death. For some years she had been afflicted with rupture ; 
but she had imprudently concealed both the nature and the exist- 
ence of her malady from her medical attendants, and even from 
her husband. She always shuddered at the thought of death, 
and she avoided all allusions and references to so repulsive a 
subject. She also feared that, if it were known that she was 
thus afflicted, the possibility of her death might diminish her 
influence over the king and over the courtiers. But the monarch 
long suspected, from certain indications which the queen could 
not conceal, that she was thus diseased ; but to all his inquiries 
she constantly returned a positive and absolute denial. Sir 
Robert Walpole, in the long interviews which he held with her, 
had discovered that she was afflicted with some secret malady ; 
but she endeavored to deceive him also, and often stood for a 
considerable length of time in his presence, to convince him of 
the fallacy of his conjectures. 

But this system of deception could not continue forever; 
and at length in August 1737, the Queen became worse. A 
report soon became prevalent that she was dead ; but it was 
premature and false. She rallied for a few days, yet on the 9th 
of November she was seized with the illness which terminated 
in her dissolution. Dr. Tessier was called in, who administered 
an elixir which for a time alleviated her pains. The improvement 
was only temporary, and her sufferings increased while her 
strength diminished. Cordials and various other remedies in- 
cluding Usquebaugh were given, but without any alleviation of 
her condition. The Princess Caroline seemed much affected at 
the sufferings of her mother ; but the king exhibited his usual 
apathy. Even yet, until the 12th of November, the patient ob- 
stinately concealed from her physicians the true nature of her 
disease. Dr. Ranby was by this time also in attendance. He 
was permitted to examine the person of the queen ; and he con- 
trived to satisfy himself without her aid of the real cause of her 



124: HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

sufferings. He immediately gave utterance to his suspicions in 
the royal bed-chamber ; but the queen, ill as she was, abused 
him for his frankness as a " blockhead." So mortified was she 
at the discovery, that she actually shed tears. Shipton and 
Bussier, the most distinguished surgeons of the time, were 
instantly summoned. After an examination of the person of 
the queen they promptly suggested an operation. The patient 
submitted, and endured the agony which ensued without a mur- 
mur. Her wit and sarcasm did not forsake her even when under 
the knife ; for she remarked to Dr. Ranby the operator at that 
moment, that she had no doubt he was sorry that his patient 
was, not herself, but his own aged and ugly wife. 

While in this critical and painful condition, she was thrown 
into a paroxysm of rage in consequence of a message which was 
sent to the palace from Prince Frederic, inquiring after the 
health of his mother. She knew that the information was asked 
in the spirit of satirical exultation ; and almost with her dying 
breath she cursed the son, whom she hated with a hatred passing 
that of a step-mother. She besought the king not to permit the 
reprobate to approach her chamber while living, nor to see her 
remains when dead ; she said she knew " he would blubber like 
a calf in her presence, and laugh at her the moment he left it." 

The remedies which were applied for the rupture with 
which the queen was afflicted proved unavailing because they 
came too late. On Sunday the 13th, she was much worse. The 
wound had begun to mortify. The queen was apprised by her 
medical attendants of her critical condition ; and she bore the 
announcement with great calmness and self-possession. The 
feeble-minded king was much more affected at the near prospect 
of the dissolution of his wife than she ; and began to be im- 
pressed with the solemnity of the occasion. As her last hour 
was supposed to be near, the royal family were all summoned 
to her bedside, except the Prince of Wales, who was excluded, 
and the Princess of Orange, who was absent. Then ensued one 
of the most extraordinary death-bed scenes which has ever been 
witnessed either among royal or plebeian moribunds. The queen 



life and keign of geokge the second. 125 

took a solemn leave of her children. She spoke kindly to her 
daughter Amelia. She used still more tender words to the 
Princess Caroline. Her farewell to her favorite son, the young 
Duke of Cumberland, afterward the hero of Culloden, was 
affecting in the extreme. Her two youngest daughters, Louisa 
and Mary, she intrusted to the special care of the gentle Caro- 
line. The utterances of the queen were rendered almost inaudible 
by the exclamations of grief which filled the chamber. Last of 
all the king himself approached to bid his wife farewell. She 
took from her hand her marriage ring, and placed it on the finger 
of her husband. She declared that for all the greatness and happi- 
ness which had fallen to her share in this world, she was indebted 
alone' to him, and that all she possessed should return to him. 
The little monarch seemed to be overcome by his emotions, and 
he was heard to exclaim, amid his sobs and groans, that she had 
ever been to him the best of wives. The dying queen was 
comforted by this assurance ; and proceeded to say that she hoped 
her husband would marry again after her death. He appeared 
to be quite astounded at this suggestion ; and declared that, 
after the loss of so admirable a wife, he never could think of 
placing any substitute in her stead. The queen persisted in her 
recommendation, and the king persisted in his refusal ; but at 
length, in the midst of his heart-breaking sobs, he added that, 
though he never could marry again, he might go so far as to take 
a mistress or two. " My God," exclaimed the queen almost 
with her dying breath, " why not do both 1 the one does not pre- 
vent the other ! " 

Nor was this extraordinary threat of the king an empty one ; 
for immediately after the burial of the queen, he sent orders to 
Madam Walmoden to remove without delay to England, and 
assigned her apartments in the palace of St. James ; while at the 
same time he promoted, or degraded, Lady Deloraine to the same 
bad eminence as one of the royal mistresses. 

The patient sank very rapidly ; and the princess Amelia 
suggested to the king, the father of this family of royal heathens, 
that it might perhaps do no harm to the queen if a priest were 



126 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

sent for, and the usual forms of religion were observed. Thei 
king was indifferent either way ; and Dr. Potter, the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, whom the queen had often complimented with the j 
assurance that he was a fool, was ordered to attend. What passed 
in the royal bedchamber is not known. It is certain, however, that 
the queen did not receive the eucharist. It is also certain that 
she refused to the last to be reconciled to the " cursed Fritz." 
The king uniformly kept out of the way, as long as the visits 
of the Archbishop continued. The curiosity of the courtiers to 
ascertain what occurred in the bedchamber was not satisfied ; 
and all that the most adroit questioning could extort from the 
prudent prelate was, that " her majesty was in a heavenly state 
of mind." 

This indeed is very doubtful ; for, during her last hours, the 
sufferer became profanely impatient and restless. " How long 
can this last 1 " she demanded of Dr. Tessier. He replied : " It 
cannot be very long before your majesty will be relieved from 
your sufferings." " The sooner that happens the better," was 
her sharp response. Sunday the 20th of September dawned ; and 
it was the last day she was destined to live. She now sank 
rapidly, the mortification had greatly extended, and at eleven 
o'clock in the morning, drawing a long sigh, uttering the word 
" so " with a deep aspiration, and with a queenly and farewell 
wave of the hand, she gently expired. The princess Caroline 
approached, placed a glass before the mouth of the corpse, and 
finding it unsullied by a breath, exclaimed, " 'Tis over." The 
widowed monarch repeatedly kissed the hands and face of the 
defunct with passionate ardor ; and turning round to the cour- 
tiers and attendants delivered a long harangue upon the extraor- 
dinary virtues and merits of his wife. While thus engaged the 
king discovered Horace Walpole in the background, who was 
trying to weep for fashion's sake ; but who accomplished the 
feat in so ludicrous a manner, that the monarch stopped his speech, 
gazed at Walpole for a moment, and then burst into a roar of 
laughter. Such were the mingled scenes of solemnity and 
buffoonery which were enacted around the deathbed of Caroline 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 127 

Wilhelmina Dorothea of Brandenburg-Anspach, the most 
I talented of all the queens of the royal house of Hanover. For 
many weeks after her death, the king continued to expatiate at 
great length to the circle of the court, upon the unparalleled 
excellences of his departed spouse, assured them that she was the 
only woman in the world whom he would have married ; and 
declared that if he could not have made her his wife, she should 
inevitably have been his mistress. The only word or deed of 
the king in reference to her, which deserved to be recorded to 
his praise, was the order which he gave that the salaries of all 
her officers and servants should be continued, as well as her 
benefactions to benevolent institutions, so that no one might suffer 
by her death except himself. 



CHAPTER Y. 



Fate of the Queen's Favorites— Lord Hervey— Intellectual and Moral Character of the 
defunct Queen — Spanish Aggressions — The National Forces Augmented — War De- 
clared against Spain — Events of the War — Cabal in Parliament against Walpole — Its 
Failure — Hostility of the Prince of Wales to the Minister — Walpole compelled at 
last to Resign — His Services to the Monarch. 



The death of Queen Caroline produced but little alteration in 
the pursuits, employments, and pleasures of the king. He had 
been her unconscious slave during her lifetime ; and after her 
decease he was governed directly by Sir . Robert Walpole, who 
had previously used the queen as his pliant intermediate instru- 
ment. With her passed away for a time the influence and im- 
portance of her favorite, John Lord Hervey, who, for some 
years had occupied the post of confidant, attendant, and pur- 
veyor of amusements to her majesty. He was a singular man, 
and was possessed of considerable ability. His appearance and 
manners in conversation were effeminate in the extreme ; yet his 
political writings, in which he particularly assailed Bolingbroke 
and Pulteney, were unsurpassed for the bitterness of their satire, 
the fierceness of their invective, and their general spirit and 
vigor. In 1730 he was challenged by Pulteney to the field of 
combat, in consequence of an acrimonious and bitter attack which 
he made upon that statesman. They met ; both were slightly 
wounded ; and Mr. Pulteney would have inevitably run his an- 
tagonist through the body had not his foot opportunely slipped. 
The former immediately embraced Lord Harvey, congratulated 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 129 

him on his escape, and promised never to attack him again.* 
The friendship of Lord Hervey, and afterward his enmity toward 
the poet Pope, have also been celebrated. They both wrote 
poetical satires against each other, in which they descended to the 
most bitter ridicule and abuse of each others' personal deformi- 
ties, and neither gained any credit. In May, 1740, Lord Hervey 
attained his highest political elevation ; being appointed Keeper 
of the Privy Seal, and one of the Lord Justices for governing 
the kingdom during the absence of the monarch in Hanover. 
The character of this singular man was marked on the one hand 
by extreme affectation, by great bitterness of invective, and by 
abject flattery of his superiors ; and on the other by a disposi- 
tion to pratronize men of letters, and an ability to be exceeding- 
ly agreeable and fascinating in his manners. The foundation of 
the decided partiality which Queen Caroline entertained for him, 
and which continued unabated until her death, was her admira- 
tion of his admirable conversational powers, and his unrivalled 
capacity to amuse her by his mingled wit, satire, gossip, and 
sympathy. It is well known that he inspired the amiable 
princess Caroline with a most romantic passion, even after he had 
married the beautiful Mary Lepel ; which did not terminate at 
the premature death of its object, but which rendered the prin- 
cess the victim of a morbid, a hopeless, and eventually a fatal 
melancholy. 

But little difference of opinion has ever existed in reference 
to the intellectual character of the wife of George II. She pos- 
sessed a strong, clear, and penetrating understanding. She was 
not deficient in adroitness and cunning. She generally estimated 
persons and things according to their real value. She was to 

* The satirists of the time attacked this duel with their usual keenness. One 
of their effusions was as follows, addressed to Mr. Pulteney : 
Lord Fanny once, 
Did play the dunce, 
And challenged you to fight ; 
And so he stood, 
To loose his blood, 
But had a dreadful fright. 

6* 



130 HISTOET OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

some extent a patron of literature, but she was injudicious in 
the distribution of her favors. She was particularly partial to 
divines who belonged to the heterodox school, among whom 
were Whiston, Clarke, and Bishops Gibson and Berkley. It was 
certainly a singular whim in a worldly, ambitious, and fashion- 
able woman, such as Caroline unquestionably was, that she be- 
came fond of reading " Butler's Anology," the most abtruse 
and profound production within the whole range of English lit- 
erature ; in reference to which work Bishop Hoadly declared 
that even to look at it gave him a headache. She was also par- 
ticularly pleased with Warburton's " Alliance between Church 
and State." She derived great pleasure from the controversies 
of those intellectual colossi, Dr. Clarke and Leibnitz. She 
watched the progress of their disputes with intense interest, and 
applauded with discretion where applause was due. A woman 
who could understand and appreciate the writings of such men, 
must herself be the possessor of no ordinary intellect. The 
chief blemish of her character was her disposition to excuse and 
encourage the licentious partiality of her husband for mistresses. 
She saw that his weakness lay that way ; that to oppose or con- 
demn him would but weaken her own influence over him ; that 
nothing would please him better than to submit to his will, and 
acquiesce with a good grace ; that by protecting the royal favor- 
ites, she transformed them into complacent and effective tools to 
accomplish her purposes ; and neither her principle, her pride, 
or her affection allowed her to hesitate for a moment in pursuing 
such a course of conduct. Morally speaking, therefore, she be- 
came a partner in his guilt, and she deserves a portion of the 
blame which justly attaches to it. Many incidents occurred after 
her death to illustrate the intense admiration with which she had 
inspired the mind of her weak, vain, and superficial husband. 
When speaking to Walpole respecting her merits, he frequently 
burst into tears. Having been informed that Baron Brinkman 
possessed an excellent portrait of her, which he had never seen, he 
sent for him, and requested him to produce it. The Baron obeyed. 
The king contemplated the picture for some time intently, and 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 131 

then exclaimed : " It is like her." He then ordered the owner 
of the treasure to leave him alone till he rang for him. During 
two hours the Baron waited in the ante-chamber, while the be- 
reaved monarch continued to contemplate the counterfeit resem- 
blance of the only woman who had ever impressed his mind 
with any thing like respect and esteem. Having at length sum- 
moned the Baron, he said : " Take it away ! take it away ! I 
never yet saw the woman worthy to buckle her shoe." No 
sooner had the Baron disappeared with his prize, than the aged 
king, grasping his amber-headed cane, hurried off to the apart- 
ment of Madam Walmoden, to whom he had given the title of 
Lady Yarmouth. 

In regard to the religious opinions of Queen Caroline, it is 
difficult to attain any definite conclusion, as she was most proba- 
bly herself unsettled on the subject. She attended the regular 
services of the established church, and conformed to all its cere- 
monies ; but Lord Chesterfield declares that, in reality, after 
having studied all systems and all schools, she had ultimately 
settled down in Deism, being convinced only of the existence of 
a God, and of a future state. It is probable that the judgment of 
this celebrated magister elegantiarum is correct ; and that the 
character of his royal mistress might be thus briefly and truly 
summed up : she was a talented, amiable, and benevolent 
woman ; but scarcely a good, and much less a pious or devout 
woman. 

Having thus traced the chief incidents of the domestic life of 
George II. until the death of his queen, it will be proper to re- 
sume the history of the public and political events of his reign. 
The propitious era of peace terminated with the life of Caroline ; 
for her potent influence, combined with that of Robert Walpolc, 
uniformly succeeded in allaying the hostile and warlike propen- 
sities of the king, and ending all disputes with foreign powers in 
amicable adjustments. In 1738, continued Spanish outrages upon 
English commerce in South American waters drove the ministry 
into a war. Early in that year petitions were presented to par- 
liament from the mercantile cities of the realm, setting forth the 



132 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

losses which they had suffered from this source, and earnestly 
demanding protection and relief. The House proceeded to hear 
counsel for the merchants and to examine the evidence. They 
became greatly incensed at the cruel excesses which that evi- 
dence revealed on the part of the Spanish cruisers ; and they 
voted an unanimous address to the king beseeching him to use 
his endeavors to obtain effectual relief for his injured subjects, 
and demand full indemnity from the King of Spain, promising 
to support him in the execution of any measures which he should 
deem necessary and expedient. To this memorial the king re- 
turned a favorable answer, and in May the parliament was pro- 
rogued. 

During the ensuing recess Walpole put forth his utmost 
efforts to arrange the difficulties which existed between the two 
countries by new negotiations. A treaty was eventually signed 
at Madrid, by which the King of Spain once more bound himself 
to make reparation for the losses already inflicted on British sub- 
jects by Spanish cruisers, and to prevent similar outrages in 
future. Parliament again convened in February, 1739 ; and 
when the minister communicated the terms of this new compact, 
they were treated with the utmost ridicule and contempt. The 
amount of indemnity allowed by Spain for the injuries inflicted, 
which did not exceed ninety-five thousand pounds, was especially 
deprecated as utterly inadequate to the real demands of the occa- 
sion ; and the opposition declared, with much bitterness and with 
some truth, that this sum would scarcely cover the expenses in- 
curred by the English commissioners who were sent to effect the 
treaty. After those expenses were accurately ascertained, it was 
found that a balance of only twenty thousand pounds would have 
remained over their outlay. 

The ministry, at the conclusion of an animated debate, car- 
ried an address of approbation to the king by a small majority 
of twenty-eight. In the House of Peers seventy-three members 
voted against it ; and after its passage, thirty-nine signed a bold 
and decisive protest against the treaty. The Commons then al- 
lowed the sum of five hundred thousand pounds, to augment the 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOEGE THE SECOND. 133 

forces of Groat Britain in case of emergency. In June, 1739, 
parliament was informed that the Spanish monarch had not yet 
paid the sum stipulated in the recent treaty of Madrid. The 
patience of the house was at length exhausted ; the neglect was 
justly regarded as an insult to the nation and the monarch ; and 
a vote was passed ordering letters of marque and reprisal to be 
instantly issued against the Spaniards. This decisive step was 
in substance a declaration of war. In October, 1739, the formal 
declaration of hostilities against Spain was made. The nation 
received the announcement with universal exultation, and Ad- 
miral Vernon was immediately sent with a powerful squadron 
to the West Indies. That exultation was increased when the 
news arrived that the city of Porto-Bello, situated on the Isthmus 
of Darien, had been bombarded and taken by that gallant vete- 
ran. The Admiral received a vote of thanks from the House of 
Commons, and became at once the popular idol of the nation. 
Having returned to England covered with glory, he was placed 
in command of a formidable armament intended to attack Car- 
thagena on the Spanish main. Lord Wentworth was appointed 
commander of the land forces. But not a single achievement of 
any importance followed ; and the elated Admiral fell at once 
from the sudden and giddy elevation which he had attained in 
the popular estimation, to a place even lower than that which 
he actually deserved.* A squadron dispatched to the South 
Seas, under the command of Commodore Anson, to annoy the 
Spanish settlements located there, was more successful. The 
Commodore took a great number of valuable prizes oft* the coasts 

* The Admiral was assailed after his return, according to the fashion of the 
times, with a flood of satires and caricatures. As a specimen of the former we 
may quote the following, which is but a single stanza of a lengthy ode : 
" I, by twenty sail attended, 

Did this Spanish town affright : 
Nothing then its wealth defended 

But my orders not to fight. 
Oh ! that in this rolling ocean 

I had cast them with disdain, 
And obey'd my heart's warm motion 
To have quell'd the pride of Spain ! " 



134 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

of Chili and Peru ; he plundered the town of Paita ; and he even 
threatened to attack the capital city of Lima. On his return 
home he captured a Spanish galleon freighted with an immense 
treasure ; and after having circumnavigated the globe, he safely- 
reached England, the object of universal applause, and the possessor 
of the same dizzy eminence in the popular estimation, from which 
the unhappy Vernon had so ignominiously and suddenly fallen. 

The year 1740 was distinguished by a desperate attempt 
made in both houses of parliament, to expel Sir Robert Walpole 
from the post of prime minister. The war with Spain was pop- 
ular with the nation ; but it operated singularly and adversely 
upon the minister's influence, because it was known that he was 
reluctantly driven into it. During the year 1739, nothing but 
disasters and defeats attended the British arms ; and these were 
ascribed to his lukewarmness and treachery in conducting hos- 
tilities. The Spanish cruisers captured a vast number of British 
prizes. The fleets stationed off the coasts of Spain accomplished 
no honorable achievement. The French government, embold- 
ened by the ppsture of affairs, repaired the fortifications of Dun- 
kirk, in violation of the express stipulations of the treaty of 
Utrecht. A French fleet even sailed to the West Indies to aid 
the Spaniards in their aggressions on British commerce. Very 
great apprehensions were felt lest J amaica should fall under their 
combined attacks. All these calamities were charged upon the 
minister, who was condemned by the popular voice, both for the 
part which he took in the war, and for the part which he did not 
take. Mr. Sandys, soon after the opening of parliament in No- 
vember, 1740, having made a furious attack in the Commons upon 
the measures which had been pursued by the minister during his 
long tenure of office, moved that an address be presented to the 
king " beseeching his majesty that he would be graciously pleased 
to remove the Right Honorable Sir Robert Walpole from his 
majesty's presence and counsels for ever." A violent and pro- 
tracted debate ensued, during which Mr. Pulteney especially 
distinguished himself by the fierceness and acrimony of his attack 
upon his former associate and friend. Sir Robert defended him 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 135 

^Belf with more than his usual power and ability. He proved 
that all the successive measures of his administration had been 
adapted to the changing exigencies of the times ; that they had 
received the repeated and decisive approbation of parliament ; 
and that they had uniformly promoted the national prosperity 
and glory. The motion of Mr. Sandys was finally rejected by a 
large majority. A similar proposition, introduced into the house 
of Peers by Lord Carteret, met with a similar fate ; though it 
became apparent that these violent attacks upon the measures 
and the authority of the premier weakened his position, and fore- 
shadowed his approaching fall at no very distant day. 

The party both in parliament and out of parliament who 
were the implacable opponents of Walpole, grew in strength, 
numbers, and resolution from day to day. When the Legislature 
assembled in December, 1741, the king delivered a speech from 
the throne, in which he recommended the support and defence of 
the Pragmatic Sanction. This step was equivalent to inviting 
the British people to expend their blood and treasure in protect- 
ing the vast dominions of Maria Theresa — in whose integrity and 
safety they had not the slightest interest — from the attacks of 
her continental enemies. When the usual address of thanks was 
proposed, a storm of opposition arose against the motion. It was 
urged with great force and reason, that the British nation had 
been fighting the quarrels and defending the interests of their 
allies long enough ; that such a policy had entailed a debt upon 
the nation numbering many millions ; and that England had 
been during some years constantly engaged in war, in order 
that others might enjoy all the advantages of peace. The ad- 
dress underwent some material alterations, and was then passed, 
in consequence of the prodigious exertions of the ministry. 

But the storm had not passed away. It yet lowered over 
the head of the minister ; increased continually in blackening 
fury ; and at last burst upon him with such resistless violence 
that he was utterly swept away. A number of candidates be- 
longing to the court party had been retufned for Westminster. 
Their seats were contested, and ultimately declared void by a 



136 HISTOEY OF THE FOUE GEOEGES. 

majority of four. The loss of these votes placed the minister inJ 
a minority. A great party, composed of the leading men in the 
nation had by this time organized an opposition to Walpole, so 
compact, so resolute, and so able, that even that veteran giant 
was overwhelmed by them. They included in their nnmber, 
Carteret, Pulteney, Bolingbroke, Chesterfield, Argyle, Dodding- 
ton, Pitt, Windham, Littleton, Pope, Swift, Gay, Arbuthnot, 
Johnson, Akenside, and Thompson ; each of whom assailed Wal- 
pole with their respective weapons of intellectual gladiator ship, 
with unsurpassed fierceness and acrimony. All the resources of 
eloquence, logic, satire, invective, philosophical disquisition, poet- 
ical effusion, political strategy, diplomatical craft, aristocratical 
influence, popular enthusiasm, and demagogical frenzy, were 
brought to bear upon the fated minister. The opposition had 
gradually drawn within its bosom all the young and aspiring 
men of talent, all the mature and experienced statesmen of riper 
years, all the disappointed place-hunters and Whigs about the 
court and in parliament, all the personal enemies of Walpole, 
all the political and private friends of Frederic, Prince of Wales, 
and the whole Tory party in a body. After the death of the 
queen, Walpole had, beside the energy of his own extraordinary 
abilities, but one supporter — the unprincipled, feeble and selfish 
king. It is true that this heterogeneous company were not united 
in their views of policy. They differed, and differed widely, on 
many grave and fundamental points — in reference to septennial 
parliaments, in reference to increasing the revenue of the heir ap- 
parent, and in reference to the war with Spain. But unhappily for 
Walpole they all agreed, without a single dissenting voice, on the 
propriety and necessity of pulling him down from his high place. 
They either believed him to be, or they represented him as be- 
ing, the great and sole cause of all the evils, both external and 
internal, domestic and foreign, which afflicted the country. Were 
he removed they contended that all would be well. They even 
went so far as to declare that the other members of the adminis- 
tration, whom they w«ll knew to be but cyphers under the in- 
fluence of the overshadowing ambition of Walpole, might, if he 
were crushed, still be allowed to retain their offices. 



LIFE A2TO KEIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 137 

Long as Walpole had fought the battles of the king, and con- 
tended for his own honor and supremacy, he was determined 
manfully to continue the contest to the last. lie tried various 
expedients to avert his doom. He skilfully attempted to com- 
pound the differences which existed between the king and Prince 
Frederic ; but the prince declared that he would enter into no 
terms whatever with the great enemy of the state. He then en- 
deavored to detach some of the leaders of the opposite party 
from their friends, and enlist them in his own service. Greater 
bribes were offered them to retain their adhesion to their old 
associates, and this effort also failed. At length the great, crafty, 
and once absolute minister, was left upon a vote of importance, 
in a decisive and hopeless minority in the Commons. When the 
adverse vote was announced Walpole arose, declared that he 
would never again enter that house, and retired. On the next 
day, February 3d, 1742, the king adjourned parliament till the 
18th. In the mean time, on the 11th of the month, Walpole re- 
signed his employments and offices, obtained from his royal 
master security and protection for all the measures of his past 
administration, was created Earl of Orford in return for his long 
and faithful services, and retired after twenty years of almost 
absolute power, to the repose and the dignities of private life at 
his sumptuous seat at Houghton ; there to enjoy that happiness 
which the turbulent and uneasy splendors of his former state 
had never been able to bestow. 



CHAPTEK VI. 

The Members of the New Cabinet — The Pension Bill — Lord Carteret Prime Minister — 
The Seven Tears' "War — George II. present at the Battle of Dettingen — Events of 
1745 — Battle of Fontenoy — Movements of the Pretender in Scotland — His Successor 
— His Defeat at Culloden — Success of British Arms at Home and Abroad — Treaty 
of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

The Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Pelham still remained in the 
cabinet. The Earl of Wilmington succeeded to the premiership. 
Mr. Sandys was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lord 
Carteret took the Seals, and Mr. Pulteney was sworn of the 
Privy Council. The sentiment which first prevailed throughout 
the country when the resignation of Robert Walpole became 
known, was one of general joy. The bells were rung and bon- 
fires were lighted in most of the towns and cities of the realm. 
The opposition papers teemed with ungenerous insults to the 
fallen statesman, and he was boldly threatened with impeach- 
ment and the scaffold. His Earldom, his Garter, his Knight- 
hood of the Bath, were all made the subjects of satire and invec- 
tive.* His daughter by his second wife, who was illegitimate, 

* The Champion of February 16, 1742, (a more scurrilous paper even than 
the Craftsman,) contains the following epigram, which may be taken as a sam- 
ple of -effusions to which the ex-miuister was exposed daily : 

" Sir [Robert], his merit or interest to shew, 

Laid down the red ribbon to take up the blue : 

By two strings already the knight hath been ty'd, 

But when twisted at [Tybwri], the third will decide." 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 139 

was given precedency as an Earl's daughter by a separate patent 
from the king ; and this step aroused a furious storm of indigna- 
tion around his ears from the incensed aristocracy, and the 
" modern quality of Miss Maria Walpole " became the subject 
of several pointed satires and poems. The young patriots, 
whose chief and confessed leader was William Pitt, being disap- 
pointed in obtaining a place in the new cabinet, absurdly vented 
all their spleen on the ex-minister. 

This storm gradually subsided, to be followed by another of 
almost ecpaal fury, resulting from the disputes which divided the 
new ministry. The Pension Bill, the Place Bill, and a Bill to 
repeal the septennial parliaments, called forth the antagonistic 
and irreconcilable sentiments of the heterogeneous multitude 
who had triumphed over the Earl of Orford. An effort was 
again made to authorize a formal investigation into the 'measures 
of the last ten years of his administration. It was in the discus- 
sion of this motion that William Pitt, then rapidly rising in 
favor and popularity by means of that stately and powerful 
declamation in which he eventually excelled all men — particu- 
larly distinguished himself. He dwelt with great effect upon the 
detestable use which the recent minister had made of the secret 
service money ; of which one million and a half pounds had 
been expended, as was asserted, dm-ing the preceding ten years, 
in bribing the members of the legislature. He denounced the 
defunct administration as rotten to the core, and as tarnished 
with the cadaverous hue of moral corruption and disease. But 
all the threats of impeachment and punishment which were hurled 
at the head of the ex-minister eventually amounted to nothing ; 
and he remained secure in the possession of that political inno- 
cence of which he fearlessly boasted when he first heard the 
threat uttered in parliament. 

In 1742 the attention of the king, the parliament, and the 
nation, was chiefly engaged by the stirring events which were* 
transpiring on the continent. The Austrian Empress, Maria 
Theresa, was contending heroically for the integrity of those vast 
and heterogeneous possessions which she had inherited, and 



140 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

which had been guaranteed to her by the Pragmatic Sanction. 
Under the influence of Lord Carteret, George II. became decided-l 
Ij warlike in his tastes and feelings. He even conceived the de-' 
sire to distinguish himself as a great hero on the field of battle 
Sixteen thousand regular troops, under the command of Lord 
Stair, who had succeeded the Earl of Argyle in the new ministry, 
were sent over to Flanders in April, where they were joined by 
a large body of Hanoverians and Hessians in British pay. These 
troops were destined to operate in support of the Empress- 
Queen. But Lord Stair had been directed, in the first place, to 
try the effect of negotiation, to induce the States General to join; 
the coalition, and concur in the projects of the King of Great 
Britain. These provinces determined however to adhere to their ■ 
neutrality ; and thus the summer glided away without any mil- 
itary operations having been attempted. The troops were placed 
in winter quarters ; but during the ensuing session of Parliament, 
the conduct of the new ministry, with reference to the continental 
war, was bitterly and furiously assailed. Nevertheless, in the 
following spring the warlike policy was resumed, and larger da- 
tachments of troops were sent to the Low Countries, to unite 
with those already collected there under the command of the 
Earl of Stair. The first purpose of this commander was to enter 
the French territory on the side of the Moselle. Baffled in this 
attempt, he changed his line of operations to the banks of the 
Maine. The Court of Versailles immediately ordered sixty thou- 
sand troops, under the command of the Marshal de Coigne, to 
confront the foe in this new position. In June the warlike fever 
had so completely taken possession of-the nature of George II., 
that he journeyed in person to the continent, in company with 
his son the Duke of Cumberland, and arrived at the camp of 
Lord Stair at Aschaffenburg. He desired to see the operations 
of the great conflict going forward, and if possible to win some 
of the laurels which were about to be distributed among the 
combatants. But the little king was soon treated to more of the 
stern realities of war than he had anticipated. The Marshal de 
Noailles, who had in the meantime taken the command, carried 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 141 

on his operations with such consummate skill and vigor, that he 
soon placed the English commander in a very critical position. 
Lord Stair was compelled to decamp in haste from Aschaffen- 
burg, and direct his march toward Hanau. There he expected 
to obtain large reinforcements. But Marshal de Noailles had 
anticipated this movement, and had taken effectual measures to 
intercept it. On approaching the village of Dettingen, the Brit- 
ish commander, who was accompanied by the British king, found 
the French army drawn up in battle array to oppose his further 
progress. The position was a dangerous one. The enemy occu- 
pied the defiles of Dettingen in front ; on the left flowed the deep 
and turbulent waters of the Maine ; and on the right were im- 
passable forests and morasses. A retreat even was impossible, 
for the French commander had promptly taken possession of 
Aschaffenburg with a powerful force, immediately after it was 
deserted by the English. A decisive battle was now unavoidable, 
in which every probability of defeat and ruin conspired against 
the English. Lord Stair instantly made very admirable dispo- 
sitions for the conflict. The French charged with their usual 
impetuosity. They were received by their foes with great stead- 
iness and intrepidity. Yet the disadvantages of their position, 
the superiority of numbers on the part of the French, and their 
better condition, would have inevitably secured them a decisive 
and overwhelming triumph, had not the skilful plans of the 
French Marshal been disarranged and ruined by the rash and 
inexperienced valor of the Duke de Grammont ; who, contrary 
to express orders, advanced his troops through the defiles at an 
unfavorable moment, thereby compelling the whole army to 
sustain an unseasonable movement. During the conflict, George 
II. behaved with considerable fortitude. Had the French been 
victorious, he would most probably have been taken prisoner. 
But a propitious accident saved his army from defeat, his person 
from captivity, his reputation from disgrace, and thousands of 
brave men, who would have had no possible means of retreat, 
from certain death. The French lost six thousand killed and 
wounded. After the battle, George proceeded to Hanau, where 



142 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

he received the expected reinforcements. No further operations 
of importance afterward occurred during the summer ; and hav- 
ing passed the Rhine at Maintz, Lord Stair fixed his head- 
quarters at "Worms for the ensuing winter. The king, having, 
had enough of the realities and splendors of war, returned im- 
mediately after the termination of the campaign, to his British 
dominions, to congratulate himself upon the laurels which he had 
won, and still more heartily and justly on the destruction or( 
captivity which he had escaped. 

In the spring of 1745, hostilities were resumed on the coflti 
nent between France and the Allies. The commander of the I 
French troops was the celebrated Marshal Saxe, a hero of great 
military abilities. He was the son of Augustus, King of Poland 1 
and Saxony, and that accomplished and beautiful Aurora, Count- 
ess of Kcenigsmark, to whom reference has been made in a pre- ■ 
ceding page of this work. The Marshal inherited the remarkable • 
beauty of his uncle, the unfortunate lover of Sophia Dorothea i 
of Zell ; the fascinating maimers and the superior intellect of ' 
his mother ; and the vast bodily size and strength of his 
royal and voluptuous father. His whole life had been one of 
adventure, luxury, and vicissitude. He was one of the last and 
most eminent representatives of that class termed soldiers of for- 
tune ; who, in preceding ages, hired their swords to the most lavish 
or opulent bidders, and became celebrated for martial deeds in the 
results of which they did not feel a particle of personal interest. 
At this period the military fame of the gallant Marshal stood very 
high ; but the campaign which now ensued was destined to ele- 
vate it to the summit of glory. The Allies, commanded by the 
Duke of Cumberland, by Marshal Konigseg, and by the Prince 
of Waldeck, marched to the relief of the city of Tourney, which 
the French under Saxe had invested. The combatants met near 
the village of Fontenoy, to which the prodigious scenes of car- 
nage which ensued in its vicinity has given an enduring and mel- 
ancholy celebrity. During the early stages of the battle the 
Allies, especially the English and Hanoverian infantry, drove 
the French repeatedly beyond their lines, and the victory seemed 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 143 

to be secure. Their artillery had been posted with such skill by- 
Marshal Konigseg, the commander of the Austrian contingent, 
that immense numbers of the French were slain. The position 
of Saxe was becoming critical. He was ill at the time, and was 
conveyed from post to post in a litter. But this hero's fortitude 
and presence of mind never deserted him, even in the most im- 
minent dangers, or amid the darkest gloom. The centre of the 
French having been broken, the Allied column of attack should 
have been divided. But advancing in a solid mass into the heart 
of the French lines, its isolated position rendered it at once an 
object of assault to the whole French army. Saxe instantly took 
advantage of this error, and ordered up all his corps de reserve. 
A circle of fire from the redoubts which they had already passed, 
and from other powerful batteries ranged on their flank, was 
skilfully drawn around the hapless column, which then melted 
like frost-work before it. Total destruction now impended over 
it ; rapid retreat became inevitable ; nor was this effected until 
the Allies lost ten thousand men, killed and wounded on the 
field of carnage and conflict. The victory of the French was 
complete, and its consequences were important. Tournay sur- 
rendered, Ghent and Bruges were captured by a coup-de-main, 
Ostend, Dendermond, and Newport successively capitulated to 
the conquerors. 

The British nation now fell into one of their fits of spleen and 
spite in consequence of these disasters ; but misfortunes and 
perils nearer at home were soon about to ensue. The French 
monarch observing that all the British forces were engaged upon 
the continent, regarded the opportunity as favorable to the promo- 
tion of the interests of the Pretender. Prince Charles, the son of 
the " Chevalier de St. George," being equipped by Louis XV. and 
incited by him, landed in the Western Islands of Scotland, in Au- 
gust. The movement was propitious to his interests in many ways. 
George II. was then absent in Hanover. His British dominions 
were almost destitute of troops. The ablest military command- 
ers were engaged in the absorbing events transpiring in the 
Low Countries. The Scotch were in a great measure partial to 



144 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

the cause of the Pretender ; and the English were exceedingly 
disaffected toward their own government. As soon as the news 
of the arrival of Prince George reached London, a f messenger was 
despatched to the continent entreating the monarch to return to 
his capital. Several British regiments were recalled from the 
Netherlands. Six thousand troops were demanded from the 
Dutch, who were bound to furnish them by the requirements of 
an existing treaty. The Lieutenants throughout the kingdom 
were ordered by the Lords of the Regency to muster the militia 
in their respective counties, and commissions were issued to 
raise new regiments. Divided and dissatisfied as the nation 
had been, the greatness of the impending danger at once 
united them, and all parties except the Jacobite alone engaged 
heartily in energetic preparations for defence. 

In a short time Sir John Cope, the commander-in-chief of the 
forces in North Britain, advanced to Inverness at the head of such 
troops as could be hastily summoned. The Pretender had al- 
ready reached Edinburgh, had entered it in triumph, had caused 
his father to be proclaimed king, and himself regent, of Great 
Britain ; and had fixed his head-quarters in the ancient abode of 
his ancestors, the venerable palace of Holyrood. On the 20th of 
September, Sir John Cope encamped at Prestonpans, in the 
vicinity of the Scotch capital, in command of three thousand reg- 
ular troops. He was attacked in his position on the ensuing 
day, by the Pretender, at the head of an equal number of High- 
landers. Nothing in modern warfare equalled in ferocity and 
fury the onslaught made on this occasion by the rude and fierce 
sons of the Caledonian hills, upon the lines of the royal troops. 
The shock of battle was prodigious. The Scotch hewed down 
their foes with their broadswords and Lochaber axes as if they 
had been so many cattle. The field of conflict was deluged with 
blood, the royal army was totally routed in ten minutes, and the 
Pretender at once found himself master of the whole of Scotland. 
He now received large supplies from France, and was joined by 
Lords Kilmarnock, Cromarty, Balmerino, Lovat, and the Earl 
of Derwentwater. After his first triumph, the Pretender 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 145 

marched with an increasing army southward. The city of Car- 
lisle surrendered to him in November. At Manchester he was 
welcomed with general demonstrations of joy. He advanced as 
far as Derby. By this time the panic which pervaded the nation 
was intense and universal. Had the Pretender then continued 
his progress to London, it is highly probable that his descendants 
would, even at this moment, be seated upon the British throne. 
The fall of Rome, after the overwhelming carnage of Cannae, was 
not more certain, had Hannibal hastened directly thither and 
thundered before her gates, than was the submission of the Brit- 
ish capital to the representative of the Stuarts, had he at that 
crisis summoned her to surrender. But as Hannibal unaccount- 
ably failed in the decisive moment of his destiny, so also did the 
aspiring rebel chief on this occasion. Being informed that Lord 
Stair had been appointed to the supreme command of the royal 
troops, and that he was advancing against him, he began, on the 
6th of December, to retreat northward. On the 21st of the 
month, Carlisle was invested by the Duke of Cumberland, who 
had been appointed commander of a portion of the royal troops. 
At Falkirk, the Pretender gained another victory over his ene- 
mies, led on by General Hawley. He then retired to Glasgow 
and invested the castle of Stirling. But a great and decisive 
battle could alone determine the controversy which seemed to be 
involved in such ultimate uncertainty. In April, 1746, the Duke 
of Cumberland, having been made generalissimo of the royal 
forces, met the Pretending Prince on the famous field of Cul- 
loden. The heroic Highlanders had lost none of their military 
ardor, but their foes had by this time become familiar with their 
method of fighting, and had been taught how to resist it. The en- 
gagement began at one o'clock in the afternoon. The Highland- 
ers, who had been drawn up in thirteen divisions upon a favor- 
able eminence, rushed down upon their approaching foes with 
prodigious fierceness. But they were steadily received on fixed 
bayonets ; a continual firing by platoons was kept up upon them ; 
the weapons of the Scotch could produce but little effect upon the 
solid barrier of steel which confronted them ; their ranks rapidly 
7 



146 HISTOEY OF THE FOUE GEOEGES. 

thinned ; the survivors gradually became exhausted ; terror took 
the place of heroism ; their tumultuous masses were thrown into 
confusion ; the royal cavalry and artillery were then brought to 
bear upon them with destructive effect ; a retreat became inevitable 
in less than an hour ; and a dearly bought victory was at last 
attained by the steadiness and valor of the royal troops. The 
rout was complete, and more bloody than complete. No quarter 
was given. A savage thirst for revenge actuated the conquerors ; 
and the most cruel barbarities were inflicted even upon the fam- 
ilies of the discomfited rebels long after hostilities had termin- 
ated. 

The cause of the Pretender was utterly ruined. He fled from 
the kingdom, and only reached France after passing through a 
series of imminent perils and romantic vicissitudes such tis were 
paralleled by no other scenes in the history of princes, except 
those experienced by Charles II. after the battle of Worcester. 
Hundreds of the rebels were executed, including many distin- 
guished noblemen. To all intercessions in their behalf, the in- 
censed and inexorable monarch turned a deaf ear, and an unre- 
lenting heart. The victory was indeed great, and the delivery 
from national commotion and civil war most fortunate. Par- 
liament presented an address of congratulation to George II. with 
which he doubtless sympathized more heartily than he had ever 
done before on any similar occasion ; and the triumphant hero 
of the day, the Duke of Cumberland, received an addition of 
twenty -five thousand pounds per annum to his revenue, a vote of 
thanks from parliament, and the hearty praise and adulation of 
the nation. 

During the year 1746, the popularity of the court and the su- 
premacy of the ministry in parliament again returned, in conse- 
quence of these domestic victories, and the brighter aspect of 
affairs on the continent on behalf of the Allies. Changes also 
occurred in the Cabinet ; but they produced little effect on the 
policy pursued by the government, either domestic or foreign. 
Lord Carteret, now created Earl of Granville, still retained a 
paramount influence over the mind of George II., and was made 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 147 

President of the Council. This office he retained for many 
years. During 1747, the ministry constantly commanded a de- 
cisive majority in both houses of parliament ; and the opposition 
languished so greatly that it could scarcely be said to exist. At 
this period the military operations in the Netherlands termin- 
ated ; and a treaty was eventually signed between the Plenipo- 
tentiaries of the French monarch and those of the Allies at Aix- 
la-Chapelle, the terms of which were decidedly favorable to the 
latter. Thus at length security and peace, both at home and 
abroad, became again the portion of the British people ; who had 
become heartily wearied of the expenses, the anxieties, and the 
vicissitudes inevitably attendant upon domestic strife and for- 
eign levy, and earnestly desired to be relieved from their per- 
nicious effects. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Death of Frederic, Prince of "Wales — Peculiar Conduct of the King on the Occasion — 
Decline of the opposition in Parliament — Increasing Eminence of "William Pitt — 
Character of his Eloquence — Mr. Murray — Henry Fox — Acts of Parliament — 
Death of Henry Pelham — Duke of Newcastle Prime Minister — "War between the 
English and French Colonies in North America — The King's Address to Parliament 
in November, 1755— Furious Debates which Ensued — "War with France — Cowardice 
of Admiral Byng — The Disappointment and Kage of the Nation — The Trial, Con- 
viction, and Execution of the Admiral. 



The commencement of the year 1751 was rendered remarkable 
by a domestic event of great importance to the royal family, 
and to the nation. On the 20th of March, Frederic, Prince of 
Wales, and heir apparent, died after a short illness. He had 
been previously attacked with pleurisy, had partially recovered, 
and had again been injured by a fall from his horse. Early in 
March he was present in Parliament. The house was crowded, 
and the heat intense. In returning late at night to Carlton 
House, he rode with the windows of his carriage open. He 
then changed his dress, and reposed for several hours upon a bed 
in a cold and damp apartment. He became seriously ill, and 
the next day his life was in danger. He immediately sent for 
his eldest son, afterward George III., and bade him farewell. 
His medical attendants, Doctors Wilmot and Hawkins still con- 
tinued to indulge hopes of his recovery. But at the very mo- 
ment when they were uttering words of encouragement, the 
Prince, placing his hands upon his stomach, exclaimed : Je sens 
la mort, and commenced to sink. His cough returned with in- 
creased violence. His body shivered convulsively from head to 
foot. By this time his wife and some of his children had reached 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOEGE THE SECOND. 149 

his bedside ; sympathy and medical treatment were of no avail. 
The prince was held up in his bed by Desneyer, his favorite and 
athletic dancing-master. After a few minutes of convulsive 
agony, the heir of the British Empire expired in the arms of a 
French fiddler. The king had heard of the sudden illness of his 
son j but with his usual indifference and cruelty, he had taken 
no notice of the event. As soon as the Prince had ceased to 
exist, Lord North conveyed the sad intelligence to the be- 
reaved father. The latter was, at that moment, at Kensington, 
and was looking over a card table at which the Princess Amelia, 
the Duchess of Dorset, the Duke of Grafton, and Lady Wal- 
moden were playing. In answer to the information conveyed by 
Lord North the king merely replied : " Dead, is he 1 " Then 
going round to Walmoden, he observed to her in an indifferent 
tone : " Countess, Fred is gone ! " and then the game proceeded. 
The funeral of the defunct Prince was simple and unostentatious 
in the extreme. Not a single bishop was present. The reason 
of the neglect was, that these sanctimonious courtiers were ap- 
prehensive of injuring their interests with the surviving monarch, 
who was known to have been at enmity with his son. Their 
presence at the obsequies of the heir apparent, though a custom 
and a duty enjoined by immemorial usage, would have endan- 
gered certain mitres, fat benefices, and august promotions to still 
more opulent and powerful sees, which loomed invitingly in the 
future before their unambitious and unworldly eyes. The same 
fear of displeasing the court and king kept all the temporal lords 
and peers away, with the exception of a solitary Irish nobleman. 
The Earl of Limerick alone honored with his presence the last 
mournful journey of his unfortunate friend. Neither canopy, nor 
funeral service, nor anthem, nor priest, nor organ, were per- 
mitted to impart a seemly dignity and solemnity to the exit of 
the inheritor of such proud hopes, and so exalted a destiny ; who 
in truth scarcely deserved a better fate. The widow of the 
Prince, Augusta, was at that time the mother of eight children. 
She behaved on this mournful occasion with great propriety ; 
and among other things displayed her usual discernment and 



150 HISTORY OF THE FOUK GEOEGES. 

prudence by burning all her husband's private papers. The 
sensation produced by the death of the Prince throughout the 
nation was not intense. His character had not commanded 
their confidence and esteem, and his demise was probably regard- 
ed by the majority of them as a public blessing.* 

Immediately after the death of the Prince of Wales, his 
Royal Highness, his eldest son, was committed to the Earl of 
Harcourt as governor, and the Bishop of Norwich as preceptor. 
It was at this period that the Earl of Bute began to ingratiate 
himself with the Princess of Wales, the mother of the heir ap- 
parent. She then resided at Leicester palace, and Bute was a 
member of her household. His handsome person, his agree- 
able manners, his graceful deportment, his 'high birth, his 
prudent and crafty nature, all adapted him to the attainment 
of great influence over the vacant heart of the widowed but 
worldly, aspiring, and sensual Augusta. The ambitious plot 
which was contrived between these lovers amounted to nothing 
less than a determination to rule the nation through the young 
Prince of Wales, after he should have attained the throne. They 
commenced by placing such books in the hands of the prince, 
as inculcated political doctrines, little in harmony with British 
ideas of liberty and constitutional monarchy. The preceptors 
of the Prince soon detected this intrigue, and they informed the 
House of Peers that they no longer possessed any authority 

* The following elegant epitaph was written for him by the Jacobite press : 

" Here lies Prince Fred, 
Who was alive and is dead. 
Had it been his father, 
We had much rather ; 
Had it been his brother, 
Still better than another. 
Had it been his sister 
No one would have missed her. 
Had it been the whole generation, 
Still better for the nation. 
But since 'tis only Fred, 
Who was alive and is dead, 
There is no more to be said." 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 151 

over his education, in consequence of sinister influences which 
were brought to bear upon his mind ; and they resigned their 
offices. Lord Waldegrave and the Bishop of Lincoln were ap- 
pointed in their places ; but the same secret bias remained, 
though its operation was rendered more subtle and concealed. 

After the death of Prince Frederic, the opposition to the 
court which he had headed in Parliament, may be said to have 
expired. All the men distinguished for talent and eloquence in 
the Legislature, were enlisted in the service of the government. 
Three mighty and turbulent spirits had been laid to rest, for the 
time being, by the potent spell of official rank, influence, and 
emolument. These were William Pitt, afterward Earl of 
Chatham, Murray, afterward Lord Mansfield, and Fox, after- 
ward Lord Holland. Pitt occupied the post of Paymaster of 
the Forces ; Murray was appointed Solicitor-General ; Fox 
held the office of Secretary of War. Never were three more 
remarkable and gifted men combined together in the support 
of any government. 

William Pitt was still comparatively young, and in the pride 
and splendor of his manhood. He was already the most popu- 
lar man in the nation. He had gained the hearts of his money- 
loving countrymen, by the disinterested honesty with which he 
had refused to pocket several hundred thousand pounds which he 
might have claimed on the ground of custom, as per centage upon 
the moneys which passed through his hands as Paymaster of 
the Forces. The British people looked upon him as a rare and 
unequalled specimen of an incorruptible and disinterested states- 
man. In addition to this great moral influence of which he was 
the possessor, he exhibited other commanding and attractive 
qualities, which were equally valuable. His eloquence was 
characterized by such force and splendor of diction, by such 
clearness and directness of argument, by such prodigious power 
of invective and repartee, as overwhelmed his hearers with ad- 
miration and astonishment. He was the ablest supporter, and 
the most destructive assailant, who figured in the house. He 
may be said to have annihilated whomsoever he elevated to the 



152 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

dignity of an opponent. His bursts of eloquence were not un- 
fitly compared to the lightning which flashed from heaven, 
blasting whatever it smote, and withering the crushed form of 
every antagonist. During a memorable period of thirty years 
he continued to reign the Jupiter Tonans of the British Parlia- 
ment ; and he is deservedly regarded as the most important, 
imposing, and magnificent historical personage, whom the Eng- 
lish people have ever produced, during many generations of na- 
tional existence.* 

Murray, afterward the Chief Justice, was a person of very 
different stamp. He was inferior to Pitt in all the shining 
qualities of a great statesman, and in all the brilliant attributes 
of a popular orator. His parliamentary eloquence was clear, 
placid, impressive, and convincing. His nature was not impul- 
sive nor inflammable ; neither were his measures nor his elo- 
quence. He was cautious, calculating, and prudent. But his in- 
tellectual grasp was vast, comprehensive, and profound. As a 
whole, the greatness of his mind was not inferior to that of 
Pitt's. He successively filled the posts of Solicitor-General, 
Attorney-General, and Chief Justice of England ; and in all 
three offices he achieved a legal fame unsurpassed in British his- 
tory ; for Lord Mansfield stands at the very head of the illus- 
trious array of jurists and lawyers of the land of Coke and 
Eldon. 

The third most remarkable person connected with the tran- 
quil administration of Henry Pelham, who now served the king 
and the nation without encountering the difficulties and dangers ot 
an organized opposition in Parliament, was Mr. Eox. His elo- 
quence and his abilities occupy a middle position between those 
of his two chief associates. He was in every respect less bril- 
liant than solid. He possessed none of the outward advantages 

* Pitt's celebrated retort upon Horace Walpole, who had charged him with 
being a young man, and therefore ignorant and inexperienced, is a memorable 
instance ot the power of reply and invective which he possessed, and frequently 
exhibited. See Belsham's Memoirs of the Kings of Great Britain, Vol. II., p. 
127. History of the Bt. Eon. William Pitt, <&c. ; by Bev. F. Thackeray. Lon- 
don, 1827, 2 vols. Uo. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 153 

which the others exhibited. His figure was heavy and awkward ; 
his countenance was coarse and unintellectual. His delivery 
was hesitating and embarrassed; and his gestures devoid of 
grace or appropriateness. But as a declamatory logician, he ex- 
celled every man whose voice had ever been heard in the British 
Parliament. No orator of modern times surpassed the ability 
with which he took hold of the positions and the arguments of 
his opponents, and sifted their weakness, absurdities, falsehoods, 
and errors. Even the very homeliness of his language often 
operated prodigiously in his favor ; while the logical power with 
which he scoured every nook and corner of the debatable land, 
astonished, terrified, and crushed his opponents. 

With such an array of various talent in support of the ad- 
ministration, it is not singular that some years of pacific govern- 
ment ensued under the crafty and supple guidance of Henry 
Pelham ; a man every way adapted to preside prudently and 
warily over the movements of so many powerful and impetuous 
subordinates. During this period the foreign relations of Britain 
were friendly, and the acts passed by Parliament were all of a 
domestic, internal, and local character. A company was incor- 
porated to promote and encourage British Fisheries ; another to 
reform the Gregorian calendar for the computation of time ; 
and a third, for permitting the naturalization of Jews who had 
been born out of the realm. The last was subsequently re- 
pealed ; it being absurdly contended that the adoption of " va- 
grant Jews " as British citizens would endanger the constitution 
in church and State, and would be a disgrace to a Christian na- 
tion ! The repeal of this law was the last event which occurred 
during the administration of Henry Pelharm' He expired sud- 
denly, unexpectedly, and prematurely in March, 1754 ; thereby 
throwing the whole machinery of government into a temporary 
confusion. 

When George II. was informed of the death of the minister, 

he exclaimed : " Now I shall have no more peace ; " and though 

the prophet, in this instance, was neither a good nor a wise man, 

the prophecy proved in a great measure to be a true one. Much 

7 



154 HISTOKT OF THE FOUK GEOKGES. 

difficulty was experienced in obtaining a suitable successor, who 
was in every essential respect adapted to that high and difficult 
place. In a few days the Duke of Newcastle was selected to 
fill the vacant office ; but with his selection, the embarrassments 
of the court were increased instead of diminished, inconsequence 
of the impracticable and all-absorbing ambition of the Duke. 
He would allow no man of commanding ability to share the 
government with him ; and yet unassisted, he was utterly unable 
to stand. A compromise was at last effected with Mr. Fox, who 
was appointed Secretary of State, yet without the powers which 
usually belonged to that office — without the control of the secret 
service money ; and without being informed what use was to be 
made of that detestable fund by those who actually controlled 
it. Thus hampered, it was impossible for even Mr. Fox to dis- 
charge his duties so as to secure the permanency of the admin- 
istration ; and after a few days of imbecile and mortifying effort 
he resigned. 

Pitt was too bold and dangerous an ally to be placed by 
the Duke of Newcastle in a position of great prominence in 
the cabinet, for in that case the latter well knew he would soon 
himself become a cypher. Pitt was therefore cautiously passed 
by. At length Mr. Legge was made Chancellor of the Excheq- 
uer, and the seals were consigned to Sir Thomas Robinson, 
together with the lead in the House of Commons. Sir Thomas 
was utterly unfit for this difficult post. He had formerly been am- 
bassador to Vienna, and had proved himself scarcely competent 
even for that office. When Pitt, therefore, heard of his appoint- 
ment, he exclaimed in astonishment : " Sir Thomas Robinson lead 
us ! Newcastle might as well send his boot-jack to lead us." A 
short time only was necessary to prove the total incapacity of 
this cabinet. In addition to the management of the domestic 
legislation of the nation, its foreign relations, which were daily 
becoming more complicated and perplexed, engrossed their atten- 
tion and confounded their abilities. The first difficulty arose 
between the French and English Colonies in North America. 
The limits of the territory of Nova Scotia, which had been ceded 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE SECOND. 155 

to England, became the subject of dispute. Prance was erecting 
a long chain of forts on the Mississippi, to connect together her 
possessions in Canada and Louisiana. The British cabinet gave 
orders to the governors of the American provinces, to repel 
force by force, and to dislodge the French from their settlements 
and fortresses on the Ohio. In March, 1755, the king informed 
Parliament that the existing state of affairs made it necessary to 
augment the national forces by land and sea, with special refer- 
ence to the increasing difficulties and exigencies in America. 
A million pounds were voted by the House in accordance with 
the demands of the monarch, in consequence of the fact, that at 
that moment information reached England, that a powerful 
French armament was preparing in the ports of Eochefort and 
Brest, destined to operate in America. Admiral Boscawen was 
immediately dispatched with a numerous squadron to the banks 
of Newfoundland, to intercept the entrance of the French fleet 
into the gulf of St. Lawrence. 

The French monarch at this crisis recalled M. Miressoix, his 
minister at the court of London. Letters of general reprisal 
were then issued by the English government. In April, 1755, 
General Braddock sailed from Cork with a large body of regu- 
lar troops for the purpose of operating against the French on 
the Ohio. His rash and unfortunate career was terminated by 
the memorable and disastrous defeat at Fort Du Quesne ; where 
for the first time British troops learned to appreciate the nature 
of conflicts with the savage aborigines, amid the primeval forests 
and pathless solitudes of the then uninhabited and unfrequented 
wilds. General Braddock was among the slain, and the com- 
mand devolved upon General Shirley. The French, under 
Montcalm took Oswego, on Lake Ontario. The same fate subse- 
quently befell fort William Henry ; and by these successes the 
French acquired the entire command of the great chain of lakes 
which connect the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. In Novem- 
ber, 1755, George II. informed Parliament in a speech from the 
throne, that he had done his utmost to carry on hostilities 
against France effectually ; but that the result had not yet been 



156 HISTOEY OF THE FOTJE GEOEGES. 

commensurate with his wishes. He concluded by asking for 
further appropriations for the continuance of the war, and for the 
preservation and security of his Hanoverian dominions, which 
were then threatened by the French monarch with invasion. 

The passage of the address of Parliament in answer to the 
royal speech, called forth the most violent and lengthy debate 
which had ever occurred in the House within the memory of that 
generation. Very great offence was taken by many leading 
statesmen at the proposition which was made, to engage England 
and bind her to the defense of the king's Hanoverian dominions. 
It was on this occasion that Gerard Hamilton delivered that 
celebrated speech, whose extraordinary eloquence astonished and 
transported the House ; which eclipsed every other orator who 
took part in the debate ; and which has rendered his memory 
immortal by affixing upon its author, who never delivered an- 
other, the epithet of " Single Speech Hamilton." Pitt spoke 
an hour and a half against the subsidies, with immense energy 
and effect. Although he still retained the office of Paymaster 
of the Forces, he did not in the least degree moderate his oppo- 
sition on that account. He declared, in tones of thunder, that the 
protection of Hanover would in a few years cost England more 
money than the fee simple of the electorate was worth, whose 
extent was so insignificant that even its name could scarcely be 
found upon the map ; and he concluded with wishing for the day 
when those fetters would be broken which bound England, like 
Prometheus, to that barren and pernicious rock. This deadly 
thrust against the honor of his favorite province, George II. never 
forgave. He instantly dismissed Pitt, and his friend Legge, from 
their offices. Sir Thomas Robinson soon afterward resigned. 
Fox was appointed Secretary of War, and he exerted his utmost 
abilities to serve the imbecile king and government. The address 
of the Parliament was finally passed, the amendment moved 
by the opposition having been rejected by a large majority. 

The chief event which now engaged the attention of the Eng- 
lish government and people, was the war with France. A for- 
midable fleet was equipped at Toulon for the purpose of making 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 157 

a descent on the island of Minorca. To resist this movement, 
a squadron, under the command of Admiral Byng, was ordered 
to sail from Spithead in April, 1756. On approaching Minorca 
Byng discovered the British colors still floating from the for- 
tress of St. Philip ; thereby being assured that the French had 
not yet attempted or accomplished their purpose. Their ships 
were seen to the south-east, formed in line of battle. The Brit- 
ish admiral declined a general engagement, on the ground of the 
inferiority of his fleet, and set sail for Gibraltar. 

When the news of this ignoble cowardice reached England, 
a great storm of popular fury burst upon the head of the un- 
happy admiral. The nation was at that moment highly incensed 
at the French, and they could ill brook the disappointment of 
their anticipated vengeance. The ministry, not daring to resist 
the popular torrent, appointed Admirals Hawke and Sanders to 
take the command, and ordered Byng to be sent home under 
arrest. On his arrival he was committed a close prisoner to 
Greenwich hospital. The angry nation demanded his blood, and. 
would hear of no defence or palliation. He was charged with 
cowardice, treachery, and gross ignorance. The shop windows 
were filled with libels and caricatures. Numerous addresses 
were sent up to the king, demanding the punishment of the 
criminal ; and special instructions were sent to many representa- 
tives in Parliament, by their constituents, requiring them to vote 
against the unfortunate Admiral, and insist on the penalty of 
death. 

Byng was accordingly tried, convicted, condemned, and exe- 
cuted.* No crime was proved, or could be proved against him, 
except an involuntary error of judgment, in supposing that his 
fleet was too small to cope successfully with the much more 
numerous armament of the French. Had he fought and been 
beaten, it had been, in the opinion of the nation, much better than 
not to have engaged at all. But Byng expiated his offence with 
his blood, and thus the vengeance of the people was slaked for the 

* His trial commenced on December 2Sth, 1756 ; and he was executed on the 
14th of March, 1757. 



158 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

time. George II. seemed to partake of the fury which convulsed 
his subjects; and approved of the execution of the unfortunate 
Admiral. But his death did not bring back popularity and power 
to that feeble ministry. It held power precisely five months, 
and new changes became absolutely necessary. Pitt and his 
brother-in-law Temple, again came into office, and again went 
out, after a short collision with the impracticable and narrow- 
minded Newcastle ; with whom no liberal-minded statesman 
could co-operate, as long as he remained at the head of the gov- 
ernment. 



CHAPTEK VIII. 

England without a Ministry— New Cabinet formed— 'William Pitt becomes Premier— 
His Extraordinary Character— The Vigor and Energy of his Government— Success 
of the British Arms by Land and Sea— National Exultation — The British Empire in 
India — Its History and Vicissitudes — The French Power in India— Conflicts between 
the two Nations — Brilliant Victories of Clivo — Surajah Doulah — Horrors of the 
Black Hole — Popularity of Pitt's Administration at Home — Death of George II. — 
His Intellectual and Moral Character — Eminent Men of Letters during his Reign — 
State of Religion and of the Established Church — Cardinal Principle of the Govern- 
ment of George II. 

During eleven weeks England remained in the anomalous po- 
sition of possessing no ministry, although during that interval 
j the Parliament was in session, and the war with France was rag- 
ing. Pitt was evidently the only person who could grasp the 
helm of the ship of state in that great crisis, with a powerful and 
steady hand, and conduct her safely into port. But George II. 
hated and feared Pitt as he hated and feared no other man ; and 
he resisted every proposition which was made for the purpose 
of effecting his recall to power. At length, after trying every 
other expedient in vain, and sending Newcastle smirking and 
chattering around the court, and through the Parliament, to con- 
fer with every available person, the king was compelled to yield ; 
and the Great Commoner was called at last to fill the exalted 
post for which, of all other Englishmen, he was best adapted. 
By this new arrangement Pitt became prime minister, Newcastle 
took the Treasury and Foreign Affairs, Fox became Paymaster 
of the Forces, Lord Anson, first Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. 
Legge, leader in Parliament, and Sir Robert Henley, keeper of 
the Great Seal. By this coalition, all opposition in Parliament 
seemed to be annihilated ; a powerful and compact ministry ap- 



160 HISTOEY OF THE FOUE GEOEGES. 

peared to have been placed at the head of the country ; and the i 
entire direction of the war was thus intrusted to Pitt, the bold- 
est, most energetic, and most patriotic of statesmen. At this 
fortunate consummation the nation rejoiced, and George II. 
was glad in spite of himself ; inasmuch as it promised him : 
a release from the cares of government, and greater leisure to 
divert himself with the puerilities which, together with the so- 
ciety of the " Countess Walmoden " filled up the empty and use- 
less vacuum of his existence. 

From the moment that Pitt seized the helm, the tide of vie- j 
tory and glory began to turn in favor of the British arms, both 
by land and sea. A large fleet was ordered to sail from Ports- 
mouth in the beginning of September for the purpose of reducing 
Rochefort. As soon as Lord Anson of the Admiralty was in- 
formed that a specific time had been fixed for the departure of 
the fleet, he replied that it was impossible to comply with the : 
requisition. Pitt boldly answered that it was possible ; and that 
if the ships were not then ready he should impeach his lordship 
for neglect in the House of Commons. This sort of address to 
the first lord of the Admiralty was new ; but it was effective ; 
and the ships were all ready at the appointed time. The fleet 
sailed under the command of Admirals Hawke and Mordaunt. 
The island of Aix was taken. Rochefort was threatened. Some 
of the enemy's ships were burned in the harbor of St. Maloes. 
In July, 1758, Louisburgh capitulated to General Amherst ; by 
which means the island of Cape Breton, six ships of the line, and 
five frigates, also became the trophies of the British commander. 
In the next campaign the important fortresses of Ticonderoga 
and Crown Point fell into his hands. But the most glorious 
achievement which had yet honored the arms of Britain during 
the war was the assault and capture of Quebec, the capital of the 
French possessions in Canada. Both nature and art had con- 
spired to render this place almost impregnable. Its elevated po- 
sition, the abruptness of the heights on which it was built, and the 
extent and strength of the fortifications, seemed to justify the 
prevalent opinion that it was unassailable. The heroic Wolfe 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 161 

ommanded the British troops on this occasion. He reached the 
vorks by scaling the almost perpendicular heights of Abraham 
an achievement which had been itself regarded as impossible. 
Che commander of the French forces, General Montcalm, aban. 
hming his intrenchments, advanced to meet his foe. A furious 
jombat followed. General Wolfe was mortally wounded, but he 
©fused to leave the battlefield, though rapidly sinking. When 
le heard some one exclaim, " They fly ! " the dying hero, raising 
iris head, inquired, " Who fly 1 " Being told that the French 
were beaten, he exclaimed, " I die content." The victory was 
jomplete ; Quebec capitulated ; and the whole French armament 
led to Montreal. 

When the news of this splendid series of triumphs reached 
England, the nation, so long unaccustomed to receive tidings of 
success, became almost delirious with joy. Those who returned 
Torn the scenes of conflict were received with the highest honors. 
The standards which had been captured from the foe on various 
ields of blood, were carried in public procession to the Cathe- 
iral of St. Paul, and there suspended as trophies. The heavens 
were rent with the acclamations of great multitudes. Bonfires, 
addresses of congratulation, and discharges of artillery, attested 
the national joy. Parliament voted immense subsidies to carry 
on the war ; and decreed a monument to be erected over the re- 
mains of General Wolfe, to whose fortitude and genius the most 
important of these victories was due. While these scenes of 
exultation were being enacted at home, Admiral Hawke attacked, 
defeated, and scattered, in November, 1759, a large French arma- 
ment in the Bay of Biscay, and obtained a victory which com- 
pletely destroyed the French marine. This event added greater 
intensity to the prevalent rejoicing. Thus both upon land and 
sea the tide of fortune had turned ; and the ability and energy of 
Pitt had introduced an era, in which a conquest and a triumph 
became an everyday occurrence. Yet the most brilliant and gor- 
geous of all the achievements which British arms, enterprise, and 
diplomacy were destined to make, were still to come ; and that 
too in a far distant clime, in a vast and extensive country, among 



162 HISTOET OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

strange and unfamiliar people, and amid scenes of romantic ori 
ental splendor. 

The origin, establishment, and supremacy of the British Em 
pire in India form one of the greatest marvels of modern times. 
That a purely mercantile company, organized for the peaceful 
purposes of commerce and trade, should eventually become the n 
despotic rulers of a cluster of great nations, numbering fifty mil- 
lions of people, inhabiting a territory two thousand miles in ex- 
tent, and they the descendants of the soldiers of mighty and 
world-renowned conquerors of former times, the fame of whose ill 
achievements had long been familiar even throughout Europe ; j« 
— that was an event perhaps unparalleled in history. In the seven- i 
teenth century, the British East India Company having been « 
chartered, and established by law, its first foothold within the 
limits of the vast empire which it was destined afterward to pos- i 
sess, was obtained by purchase. The island of Bombay and the J I 
factory of Surat, on the Malabar coast, Fort St. David, and Fort ' | 
St. George, usually styled Madras, on the opposite shore of Coro- ■ 
mandel, and several villages in the vicinity, had been bought by j 
the company from the King of Golconda ; and their commer- 
cial operations were immediately commenced. Fort William, j 
and the town of Calcutta, at the mouth of the Ganges were soon j 
added to the possessions of the enterprising traders ; and thus I 
the foundations of the British Empire in the land of Tamerlane 
and Aurengzebe were laid. 

At this same period the sagacity of the French had enabled 
them to take hold of the same glittering and inviting prize. 
They had established extensive commercial relations at Pondi- 
cherry, on the Coromandel coast, at Chandernagore, on the Gan- 
ges, at Rajapore, Calicut, and Surat, on the continent ; and at 
the period of the accession of the house of Hanover to the Brit- 
ish throne, their wealth and influence in India greatly exceeded 
that of their English rivals. The commanding genius of the 
French in India — he whose daring and sagacious intellect had 
foreseen the splendor and extent of the empire which European 
ability and energy might establish in the East, and who carried 



LIFE AND KEIGN OP GEOEGE THE SECOND. 163 

ut his ambitious plans for a period with consummate talent and 
ignal success — was Dupleix. He took advantage of the domes- 
c disputes existing between the princes who ruled the province 
f Arcot, and the Viceroy of the Decan. He proposed to rear, 
pon the crumbling and decrepit dynasties of India, a vast and 
lagnificent empire, which should rival or exceed those of the 
Vest ; and the chief means by which this result was to be ob- 
ained, he clearly saw, was to use European soldiers, trained ac- 
ording to the tactics, and expert in the military science of Saxe, 
/"endome, and Turenne. He also perceived that it would be a 
trofound stroke of policy in any European adventurer, were he 
o use some feeble and debauched native prince, as the pretext 
,nd the veil whereby to hide the ambition, the avarice, and the 
yranny, which would be the prominent characteristics of the 
areer of the bold and successful aspirant. Such a puppet he 
juickly found in Muzapher-Zing, whom eventually he raised to 
he throne of the vice-royalty of the Decan and the government 
>f the Carnatic. This was but the opening of the gigantic plans 
;vhich Dupleix had conceived ; and it is probable that this very 
esolute and unscrupulous adventurer would have succeeded in 
;he full realization of his vast conceptions, had not accident placed 
an obstacle in his pathway, in the person of a man whose ex- 
traordinary qualities rendered him eventually one of the most 
illustrious men of his time. Kobert Clive alone, of all living 
Englishmen either in England or in India, possessed the genius 
and the determination to crush not only the aspiring head of 
Dupleix, but that of every native prince or hero who dared 
to oppose him. This man had received neither a military nor 
a diplomatic education. In fact, he may be said to have had no 
education at all ; for his boyhood and youth were spent in a 
turbulent resistance to all restraint, and in the uncontrolled grat- 
ification of every passion. But when surrounded by the vortex 
of perilous and critical affairs, which demanded the rarest com- 
bination of elevated natural gifts, this young mercantile clerk, 
accustomed only to the inspection of bills of lading, at once dis. 
played his native superiority ; exhibited in a wonderful degree 



164 HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

both sagacity, fortitude, craft, prudence, self-control, and an 
conquerable heroism, which eventually secured to England thjum 
possession of the greatest and richest empire in the East. 

In four years Dupleix had become the most powerful persoank] 
age in India, and the French were everywhere supreme. Theilk 
looked with a contempt which they took no pains to disguise iser 
upon the imbecile English traffickers of Madras and Calcutta i k 
who seemed to have no aspiration save that for the accumulate >i j 
of gold. In the progress of their conquests, the French besiege 
Trichinopoly, the residence of Mohammed- Ali, the rival claim' 
ant to the Viceroyalty of the Decan. This prince was the all 
of the English ; and if he should be taken or destroyed, the lasfcn:, 
obstacle to the supremacy of the French in India would be re^ 
moved. Clive, seated at his desk in the counting house of his 
employer, perceived the greatness of the crisis, and persuaded 
the authorities at Madras to permit him to lead a small English] 
force to attack Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic; hoping by this 
means to attract the French from the siege of Trichinopoly. 
Two hundred English soldiers, and three hundred sepoys, armed 
and trained in European tactics, was the insignificant force ap- 
pointed to this difficult and dangerous enterprise. Clive marched 
with incredible rapidity to Arcot ; and the boldness and sudden- 
ness of the movement so appalled the French garrison, that they 
evacuated the fort without any resistance. The English entered 
it in triumph, and began immediately to prepare to resist the 
force which they well knew would very soon be brought to bear 
against them. In a few days ten thousand troops, among whom 
were several hundred French soldiers, commanded by French 
officers, surrounded Arcot ; and the destruction of the insignifi- 
cant garrison whom Clive commanded seemed to be inevitable. 
Then ensued one of the fiercest and bloodiest struggles on record. 
During fifty days a hand-to-hand fight was kept up. The garri- 
son became greatly reduced. At length an effort was made to 
storm the works by a general assault. Four officers and three 
hundred soldiers alone remained to confront nine thousand, aided 
by a powerful artillery, and many armed elephants. The heroic 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 165 

arrison received the assailants with undaunted resolution, and 

ti unparalleled conflict of an hour's duration ensued. Thrice 

id Rajah Sahib, the native commander, seated on his milk-white 

■*ilephant, lead forward his whole line to the attack. Thrice did 

litlhe thinly scattered garrison hurl death and destruction into his 

H erried ranks, and compel them to retire. The musket balls of 

Hi he English, directed against the huge foreheads of the elephants 

tio prostrated some as dead masses and sent others flying over the 

?e leld frantic with pain, trampling the native troops beneath their 

iia eet, and adding to their consternation and disasters. At length 

111 he Rajah, perceiving the hopelessness of further effort, com- 

n nanded his disorderly host to retire from the attack. The re- 

re ailt of this glorious defense of Arcot was, to establish the Brit- 

sh name and authority in a large portion of India, in the place 

>f the supremacy of France, which had proportionably fallen. 

Dther military operations ensued, equally honorable to the Eng- 

ish. The siege of Trichinopoly was raised soon after the attack 

Dn Arcot. 

In 1756 other events of equal importance and interest trans- 
pired in India. The Viceroy of the vast province of Bengal, 
Surajah Dowlah, though nominally a subject of the Great Mo- 
gul at Delhi, was in reality an independent prince. From his 
youth he had conceived a violent dislike to the English. As 
long as they remained feeble and obscure, he despised them. 
Now that they had become formidable and dangerous, he feared 
and hated them. He apprehended the future growth of their 
power, and he formed the determination to crush them before 
they could become greater. He collected a vast army and 
marched to the siege of Fort William, which was then occupied 
chiefly by unwarlike traders. These fled in terror as soon as the 
Viceroy's army appeared in view. A few soldiers and traders 
only remained behind. Surajah Dowlah, who was a cruel and 
sanguinary monster, entered the fort, and ordered all who 
were to be found in the factories, or in the fortifications, to be 
brought before him. He wished to see specimens of that de- 
tested race upon whose destruction he was so intent. His com 



166 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

mand was complied with, and after he had inspected and insulted 
these unfortunate men, he directed them to be imprisoned. That 
order was equivalent, as the despot well knew, to a warrant for 
their execution. Within the fort, shut out entirely from the free 
air of heaven, there was a dark and deep dungeon, fitly termed 
the Black Hole ; intended for the occasional use of the diminutive 
garrison. It was only twenty feet square, and had never been 
occupied by more than two or three culprits at a time. At that 
season of the year when the ardent sun of Bengal almost consumed 
the vegetation of the earth by the intensity of its heat ; when even 
the natives could scarcely exist, with every convenience and free- 
dom which their habits of living allowed them ; and all were parched 
and suffocated by the closeness of the atmosphere, a hundred and 
forty-six Englishmen were confined in that hideous furnace. 
When their guards first ordered them to enter it, they believed 
them to be jesting. The order was peremptorily repeated; and 
after expostulating and beseeching in vain, they were compelled 
to obey at the point of the sword. The bolts were then drawn, 
and the unfortunate captives were left to their fate in the stifling 
tomb to which they had been consigned. No language can ade- 
quately depict the horrors which ensued. The prisoners made 
every effort at first, to move the sympathy and the avarice of 
their jailers. They offered immense bribes to be released. 
Their guards laughed at their agonies, which were but commenc- 
ing ; and remained uninfluenced by their gold, their supplications, 
their execrations, and their tears. Soon the pangs of that great 
agony became insupportable, and the sufferers began to be de- 
lirious. Then they fought with each other, and contended with 
murderous and desperate violence for places near the several 
small loop-holes, which perforated to little purpose the massive 
walls. Some prayed, some laughed, and some blasphemed. 
Others implored their comrades to put an end to their existence, 
and others still attempted by their own hands to terminate their 
sufferings. Death, more merciful than the jailors of Surajah 
Dowlah, soon relieved them. Their screams of agony and de- 
spair gradually subsided into melancholy moans ; and as the 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 167 

heated hours of the night wore slowly on, one after another of 
the captives expired. When at length the morning dawned, and 
the door of that memorable prison was opened, it was crowded 
from floor to ceiling with irregular piles of corpses. Out of the 
whole number who had entered it on the preceding night, but 
twenty-three survived, and they themselves were little better 
than dead men. 

Surajah Dowlah exhibited no sorrow for the horrible fate 
which had befallen his captives. But they were speedily 
avenged. He was subsequently attacked by an English force 
under the command of Clive, on the memorable plain of Plas- 
sey ; where three thousand European troops confronted and van- 
quished with great slaughter an army of seventy thousand men, 
accompanied by fifty pieces of artillery. This numerous arma- 
ment, composed of the best native troops of India, some of 
which were infantry and some cavalry, covered the plain as far 
as the eye could reach ; yet the heroism of the British com- 
mander and troops achieved an overwhelming victory. The 
viceroy was compelled to flee. His army was scattered. Hav- 
ing returned to Moorshedabad, his capital, he was forced to 
escape thence at midnight, and being discovered in his flight, he 
was taken and executed. The shades of the unfortunate captives 
of the Black Hole were avenged ; and the British power was 
established on a firm and permanent basis throughout the whole 
of the Camatic, both over the native population, and over the 
dispirited and subjugated French residents. 

At home the administration of William Pitt still continued 
to win the popular favor. His measures were patriotic, ener- 
getic, and successful. He secured the establishment of a national 
militia, which produced a comprehensive and effectual system of 
national defence ; although the number of men was reduced by 
the House of Peers from sixty-four thousand to thirty -two thou- 
sand. At the opening of parliament in December, 1757, George 
II. officially informed the House of the successes which had re- 
cently attended the arms of his illustrious relative and ally, the 
King of Prussia ; and requested that such assistance might be 



168 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

granted him by the English government, as would enable that 
hero to continue his heroic defence of the Protestant religion, and 
of the liberties of Europe. The Seven Years' war was then in 
progress ; but neither the Protestant religion nor the liberties of 
Europe had the slightest connection either with its origin, its 
progress, or its results. Nevertheless the Commons returned a 
most dutiful and loyal answer, and subsidies to the immense 
amount of ten million pounds were unanimously voted. 

Successes still continued to attend the British arms and to add 
unmerited lustre to the reign of the aged and decrepit monarch. 
When parliament met in November, 1759, the Lord Keeper 
dwelt exultingly upon the long and brilliant series of victories 
which British valor had won in North America, in the West 
Indies, in the East Indies, and upon the high seas. In truth, as 
George II. became more feeble and insignificant, the splendor of 
his reign became more imposing, in consequence of the energy 
and ability with which William Pitt directed every department 
of the government, infusing into each branch of the service 
some portion of the peculiar qualities which he himself pos- 
sessed. 

Just at this crisis of universal success and triumph George 
II. expired. A large portion of his family had preceded him. 
Prince Frederic, the heir apparent, first passed from the scene. In 
1751 Louisa, Queen of Denmark, died. Young Prince Edward 
also was cut off prematurely by an imposthume in his side. The 
Princess Anne of Orange had also been called away. And at last 
the aged monarch received the summons to follow them. On 
Friday, the 24th of October, 1760, he retired to rest at his 
usual hour, and in the enjoyment of his ordinary health. He 
slept well during the night, and at six o'clock in the ensuing 
morning he rose, drank his usual cup of chocolate, walked to the 
window, looked out upon the Kensington gardens, and remarked 
that the wind was unfavorable for the arrival of the expected 
packet which conveyed his dispatches from Holland. He 
remarked to his attendant that he would take a short walk 
in the garden. He started through the adjoining apartment in 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 169 

pursuance of this purpose, when he suddenly fell to the floor. 
In falling, he inflicted a wound on his right temple, produced by- 
striking it on the corner of a bureau. His attendants, hurrying 
to his side, found him gasping for breath. He feebly said, 
" Send for Amelia," and expired. He was instantly conveyed to 
the bed from which he had so recently risen, and every effort 
was made by the physicians, who were quickly sent for, to re- 
suscitate nature ; yet to no purpose. His daughter the Princess 
Amelia arrived ; but it was only to embrace the lifeless corpse 
of her father. His grandson, the Prince of Wales, now monarch 
of the British realms, was sent for, and informed of the momen- 
tous event which had occurred. He was riding at a distance 
from the palace when the message reached him. Without ex- 
hibiting much surprise or emotion, he remarked to his attendant 
that his horse was lame, and wheeling round returned. It is 
singular that the longest reign in British annals should have 
commenced with the utterance of an unnecessary and puerile 
falsehood. 

George II. being dead, he was buried in the ancient vault of 
the Kings of England, with the gorgeous and impressive cere- 
monies which usually attended the funeral of the defunct mon- 
archs. This undeserving and insignificant man expired in the 
propitious hour of victory and universal national joy ; and in 
this peculiarity of his fate, he furnished another illustration of 
the disparity which exists in the dispensations of Providence 
among royal as well as among plebeian personages ; for while 
many of the former have ended their unfortunate or turbulent 
careers in disappointment and gloom, with the future fate of 
their dynasties wrapped in uncertain perils, George II. enjoyed 
the rare felicity of being permitted to expire on the bosom of 
victory, in a ripe old age, with peace, contentment, and pros- 
perity richly possessed by his subjects at home ; with the na- 
tional glory honored and revered by the whole world, and with 
the prospect of a tranquil and secure succession being inherited 
by his descendant. 

Although the character of George II. was in every respect an 



170 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

ordinary one, and though he exhibited but very few qualities 
which entitled him to admiration and esteem, his death was 
mourned by the popular poets by the effusion of an immense 
quantity of rhyming and jingling grief. The nation at large were 
indifferent at the event, and prepared themselves quietly to ac- 
knowledge the accession and the authority of his successor. Thus 
far indeed the House of Hanover had exhibited but few attributes 
which were calculated to engage the affections of their subjects; 
and George II. was the least attractive of the two sovereigns of 
that race who had occupied the throne.* 

In his person George II. was diminutive and undignified. 
His intellect was superficial and imbecile; and he remained a 
German until the day of his death, in every essential feature. 
In his youth he had received the usual routine of the education 
of princes, which had been, in truth, fully equal to the extent of 
his faculties. He was utterly indifferent to the promotion of 
science and literature, and never extended to them the least 
patronage. He never became a master even of the prevalent 
dialect of his subjects ; and, to use his own inelegant language, he 
cordially hated " boetry and bainting." Yet in spite of his total 
disregard of the importance and charms of literature, education, 
science, and art, they all flourished during his reign in an unusual 
degree. It seemed indeed to have been the singular and fortu- 
nate lot of George II. to behold the triumphs, both of arts and 
arms, of intellectual and physical power, among his subjects, 
while he himself, by his example of indifference to these results, 
exerted his influence to prevent or postpone so felicitous a result. 
During his reign, and especially in its concluding years, the 
genius of the British people shone forth brilliantly in every de- 
partment of its power. This was the era in which the graceful 
pens of Gray, Young, and Thompson, produced their matchless 

* George II. was possessed at the period of his death of considerable per- 
sonal property. He bequeathed fifty thousand pounds to his favorite, the 
Duke of Cumberland, and the Princesses Amelia and Mary. To the Countess 
Walmoden he left a cabinet, the contents of which were estimated at eleven 
thousand pounds. He also willed to the Duke of Cumberland a number of mort- 
gages amounting to the sum of a hundred and thirty thousand pounds. 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE SECOND. 171 

numbers, so descriptive of the beauties and the attributes of 
nature ; for the Church-yard Elegy, the Seasons, and the Night 
Thoughts, will ever remain contributions of the richest value to 
the poetical literature of the language. In the department of the 
drama, the pathetic effusions of Otway, and the elegant composi- 
tions of Rowe, deservedly attained great eminence ; although their 
labors were so little appreciated by the monarch, or by the 
court, that the gifted author of Venice Preserved, absolutely 
starved to death * In comedy, Congreve, Vanburgh, and Far- 
quhar, produced works of sterling merit, which are to this day 
admired and represented. Two great historians began to flourish 
during the life of the second George, and culminated during the 
succeeding reign ; for the names of Hume and Robertson will 
ever rank among the first in that difficult yet attractive species of 
composition. The History of England, and the Reign of Charles 
V., possess peculiar and distinctive merits which have rendered 
their authors immortal. In the department of philosophy or 
metaphysics, Hartley became greatly distinguished by intro- 
ducing a system which was remarkable for its simplicity and 
clearness, and for its accurate accordance with the real phenom- 
ena of human nature. Bentley was celebrated as a philologist. 
Warburton, Samuel Clarke, and Hoadley, were eminent as the- 
ological writers, and deservedly ranked among the most pro- 
found and learned thinkers of the age. To these may be added 
the names and productions of Foster, Chandler, Leland, Lardner, 
and Lowth, as possessing equal distinction and merit. 

Nor were the fine arts left without illustrious representatives. 

* The climax of the literary misery of this period, the harrowing details of 
which have reached us, was found in the person of Samuel Boyce, whose name 
and works are now almost unknown, yet whose genius was of a high order. 
This unfortunate man was born in Ireland in 1G98. He first migrated to Edin- 
burgh, and thence to London. He lived and died in the most abject poverty. In 
1740 it is recorded of him, that he had not a shirt, a coat, or any kind of apparel 
to put on, and the bed sheets on which he lay were sent to the pawnbroker. He 
frequently wrote sitting in bed with no covering but a blanket, in which a hole 
had been cut to receive his head, and others to admit his arms. He died at last 
in the alms-house, and was buried by the parish. Cobber's Lives of the Poets, 
p. 168. 



172 HISTOEY OF THE FOTJE GEOEGES. 

Sir Joshua Eeynolds in painting, Wilton in sculpture, Handel, 
Arne, and Boyce in music, contributed to add to the lustre of 
this period. In one single respect does George II. deserve the 
esteem of posterity, for his personal conduct and opinions : he 
declared that, during his reign, there should be no persecution 
for conscience sake. Accordingly it was at this era that those 
penal statutes which had for so many ages been the disgrace of 
the English nation, and which exhibited and authorized a degree 
of tyranny which would have dishonored the sceptre of a Nero 
or Heliogabalus, were ameliorated, reformed, and finally in a 
great measure abolished. This cheering feature, together with 
the flourishing state of literature, and the prevalence of mental 
activity, render this reign one of the most attractive and pleasing 
in British history ; for these are not to be attributed in the least 
degree to the fostering and partial care of a Maecenas or a Dor- 
set, nor to the encouragement received from academical patron- 
age and premiums, but to the cultivation, intelligence, and gen- 
erosity of the nation. Yet religion did not flourish at this period 
in the same degree ; for in the established church an unexampled 
spirit of indifference and even of infidelity prevailed. There 
were hundreds of clergymen who, like Dr. Conyers Middleton, 
the author of the life of Cicero, subscribed to the Thirty-nine Ar- 
ticles for the purpose of obtaining a sumptuous or a competent 
living, while in their hearts they disbelieved and despised the 
doctrines which they professed. The king and queen were both 
regarded as sceptics in religion ; the leaders of the beau monde, 
Lords Chesterfield and Ilervey openly entertained the same sen- 
timents ; the esprit fortes of the period, such as Lady Mary 
Wortley Montague and Horace Walpole, were scoffers at every 
tiling serious or devout; and a disposition to ridicule and neglect 
the obligations of Christianity prevailed among the higher and 
more cultivated ranks of society.* 

Such was England at the period of the death of the second 
monarch of the House of Hanover. If, during his reign, no 
events occurred possessing the absorbing and thrilling interest 

* See Short's History of the Church of England, passim. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 173 

which characterized the era of Cromwell, of Charles II., or of 
William of Orange, yet one very great advantage was enjoyed 
by his subjects, which was infinitely more to be desired and 
valued than more startling and illustrious characteristics : George 
II. was content to rule in harmony with the requirements of the 
British Constitution ; without any violation of the established 
laws and the chartered liberties of the kingdom ; and in accord- 
ance with liberal, impartial, and equitable principles of adminis- 
tration. But the intelligent student of his life and reign must 
admit that, in his own character and measures there was little to 
admire ; while all that was fortunate, or glorious, or felicitous 
therein, was due to the superior genius of those great ministers 
whose steady and skilful hands so ably guided the ship of state 
during many perilous and troubled years. 



PART III. 

LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 



CHAPTER I. 

Birth of George III.— His Connection with Hannah Lightfoot— Lady Sarah Lennox — 
Proposals for his Marriage— Kesearches of Colonel Graeme — The Prince's Marriage 
to Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz— Her Character — Accession of George III. — 
His Mental Qualities — His Personal Appearance — Administration of "William Pitt — 
Lord Bute — His Eelation to the Princess Dowager — A New Ministry — Meeting of 
Parliament — War declared against Spain — Incidents of the Conflict. 

George III. was born at Leicester Palace on the fourth of June, 
1738. Lie was the eldest son of Frederic, Prince of Wales, the 
heir apparent to the throne, who died, as we have already nar- 
rated, in 1751. His mother was Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. The 
young prince was placed, when at a suitable age, under the tu- 
ition of the learned and amiable Dr. Ayscough, Dean of Bristol. 
He was intelligent, diligent, and displayed considerable aptitude 
for the acquisition of knowledge. On one occasion his grand- 
father George II. sent Baron Steinberg to examine him in his 
studies. He exhibited more than ordinary proficiency for his 
years in Latin ; but when Steinberg remarked that he ought also 
to study German, he exclaimed : " German ! German ! any 
blockhead can learn that." In every other branch of knowledge 
the future king was quite respectable. 

The principal incident of the boyhood of George III. was his 
investiture with the order of the Garter by his grandfather, in 
1749. The juvenile knight was carried into the royal presence 



176 HISTOKY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

by the Duke of Dorset. He immediately commenced to deliver 
himself of a speech which had been taught him by his tutor ; but 
his eloquence was suddenly stopped by the king, who proceeded 
to the conclusion of the ceremony. At an early age the prince 
proved himself susceptible of the tender sentiment. The first ob- 
ject of his amorous regard was a young Quakeress, named Han- 
nah Lightfoot, whose beauty and amiable disposition exerted so 
powerful an influence over him, that it was the prevalent report 
that he had been married to her privately in 1759, in Curzon 
Street Chapel, by the Rev. Mr. Keith. The witness of the cere- 
mony was said to have been his brother Edward, Duke of York. 
The reality of this occurrence has been as positively denied as it 
has been strenuously asserted ; and it is impossible at this late day 
to ascertain the truth with certainty. But it is well known that 
the lovers kept house together ; that they were devotedly at- 
tached to each other ; and it is added by some authorities that 
there were children born to them. In the progress of time, how- 
ever, George became indifferent to the sedate and monotonous 
charms of the Quakeress ; and she was disposed of by being 
married to a person named Axford, who received her and her 
very considerable dower without asking any impertinent or in- 
convenient questions. From that period Hannah and her subse- 
quent fate disappear beneath the shadows of oblivion. 

The fair and fascinating Lady Sarah Lennox was the next object 
of the affectionate regard of the young prince. On a certain oc- 
casion the tragedy, of Jane Shore was enacted at Holland House. 
Charles Fox represented Hastings, and Sarah Lennox played the 
part of the unfortunate yet beautiful heroine of the piece. Her 
acting was so natural and affecting, and her personal charms were 
so powerful, that she completely stormed the heart of the suscep- 
tible prince, who witnessed her performance ; and had she not been 
a British subject, her lover would have led her to the altar ; but 
against such a proceeding a stringent statute had been made and 
provided, which rendered it absolutely impossible. It accord- 
ingly became necessary for the friends of the prince to look else- 
where for a suitable and lawful partner of his fortunes. 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOEGE TEE THIRD. 177 

Various persons were suggested in this emergency. The 
mother of the prince, and Lord Bute, who already occupied the 
questionable relation toward her which afterward led to his ele- 
vation to the premiership, were in favor of a member of the 
house of Saxe-Gotha, to which she herself belonged. But George 
II. declared, in no very delicate manner, that he had had enough 
of that family already. At length Colonel Graeme, a Hanover- 
ian favorite of the monarch, was despatched to the continent with 
orders to visit all the German courts without divulging his pur- 
pose ; to scrutinize the merits and peculiarities of the several 
eligible princesses ; and report the results of his observations. 
In the execution of this commission, the Colonel happened to 
pass a few days at the famous baths of Pyrmont. There were 
collected together a number of noble families, for the purpose of 
enjoying the salutary effects of the waters. Etiquette and for- 
mality were in a great measure thrown aside ; and delicate and 
fair young ladies, who at home were models of obedience to the 
rigors of an iron restraint and formality, enjoyed themselves 
with a perfect and healthful freedom. Among the handsomest 
and wildest of these enfranchised young slaves were the two 
daughters of the Dowager Duchess of Mecklenburg Strelitz. 
The vigilant Colonel soon became sensible of the superior beauty 
and intelligence of the younger of these ladies, the Princess Char- 
lotte Sophia, and immediately fell vicariously in love with her. 
He sent information directly to the court of London, of the im- 
portant discovery which he had made ; expatiated at length upon 
the merits of the princess ; and thus became the means of event- 
ually providing a queen for England. Nor does the choice of 
the acute Colonel appear to have been a bad one. Charlotte 
was the daughter of Charles Louis, the Duke of Mirow, the 
second son of the Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz. She was born 
in May, 1744. She had in her earlier youth been instructed by 
Madame de Grabon, who has generally been termed the German 
Sappho. Sho had been carefully educated by Dr. Geitzner in 
Lutheran theology, in natural history, and other useful sciences. 
She was a good linguist, a good musician, and an admirable 
8* 



178 HISTORY OF THE FOTTK GEOKGES. 

dancer. She was a young lady of sense and spirit ; and to all 
these charms she added the less impalpable ones of a very intel- 
ligent and pleasing countenance, and a figure of medium size, 
perfect in its mould and proportions. After the death of George 
II., and the accession of his grandson, the latter communicated 
to his council his approaching marriage in July, 1761. At first 
the announcement was not received with any great enthusiasm 
either by the cabinet or by the people ; for Mecklenburg Strelitz 
was one of the most insignificant of the many insignificant prin- 
cipalities of Germany, and unworthy of the connection. But 
soon every body became reconciled to an event, to which indeed 
there could be no valid objection ; and Lord Harcourt was de- 
puted to visit Strelitz, and demand the hand of the young 
princess in form. There were few or no difficulties in the way. 
A favorable answer was readily given. The treaty of marriage 
was signed at Strelitz on the 15th of August ; and the Earl of 
Hardwicke was sent to convey the intended queen to England. 
He was accompanied by two ladies of extraordinary beauty, the 
Duchesses of Hamilton and Ancaster. The princess was aston- 
ished, as she well might be, when she first beheld the fair com- 
panions of her voyage, and inquired with some apprehension, if 
there were many such beautiful women in the English court. 
These ladies had in fact no rivals in this respect in England ; yet 
even in their presence the graceful and talented young bride of 
George III. need not have been in the least degree discouraged. 

The bride traversed the channel in the fleet commanded by 
Admiral Anson. The passage was stormy but not dangerous. 
Having at length disembarked at Harwich, she commenced her 
journey toward London, accompanied by a large retinue of noble 
ladies and their attendants who had been sent to meet her. She 
retained her buoyant spirits until she arrived in view of the Pal- 
ace of St. James, where her public presentation was to take 
place. Here for the first time she became somewhat disconcerted 
and grew pale. The Duchess of Hamilton endeavored to cheer 
her, when she replied : " My dear Duchess, you may laugh, you 
have been married twice ; but it's no joke to me ! " She soon 






LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 179 

recovered her usual self-possession ; her intended husband met 
her at the palace gates ; and as she knelt on one knee to pay 
him her homage, he prevented her, and kissed her with more 
than an ordinary show of princely affection. During the whole 
scene of her presentation to the old monarch and the court, she 
conducted herself admirably, and proved herself worthy of the 
high alliance which had been tendered her. The marriage cer- 
emony took place a few hours after her arrival, and was cel- 
ebrated in the chapel of the Palace of St. James. 

Few monarchs ever ascended a throne under more favorable 
circumstances than those which attended the accession of George 
III. His aged predecessor had expired in the arms of victory, and 
amid general national prosperity. In every quarter of the globe, 
the valor and power of Britain were triumphant, while at home 
peace and prosperity prevailed to a degree rarely exhibited in 
the chequered history of the nation. When George III. at length 
mounted the throne of the ancient yet ruined house of Stuart, 
the British people rejoiced in the possession of a sovereign, who, 
among other valuable attributes, was a native of the soil. That 
feeling of ill-concealed dislike with which the nation had regarded 
the rule of a foreign prince had passed away. Beside all this, 
George III. was young, and he secured that partiality with which 
youth when invested by no act of its own with great powers and 
dangerous responsibilities always secures. He had also some 
claim to hereditary right. His person was handsome, his man- 
ners agreeable, his intellect respectable, his character unstained 
by any known vice. The affections of the nation gathered around 
him, and became the strongest bulwark of his throne. Those 
qualities of his mind which were repulsive — his obstinacy, his 
narrow views, his exalted ideas of his prerogatives — had not yet 
been developed. During the reign of his predecessor he had ab- 
stained from any interference in the affairs of government, and 
if he had in consequence no powerful party particularly devoted 
to his interests, there was none which declared an intense and 
deadly hostility to him. The two great factions of Whigs and 
Tories still indeed existed. The former had retained possession 



180 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

of the chief offices of the state until the death of George II. Had 
his son Frederic Prince of Wales, succeeded, the Tories, to whom 
he had joined himself in his mad opposition to his father's mea- 
sures and person, would have secured an ascendency as absolute 
and as pernicious as that of Harley and Bolingbroke during the 
reign of Queen Anne. 

On the accession of George III. he was supposed to entertain 
sentiments which might be designated as those of the moderate 
Whigs. On the 18th of November, 1761, he delivered a speech 
to Parliament from the throne, in which he gave utterance to 
the most popular opinions. Said he : " Born and educated in 
this country, I glory in the name of Briton ; and the peculiar 
happiness of my life will ever consist in promoting the happiness 
of a people whose loyalty and warm affection to me, I consider 
as the greatest and most permanent security of my throne. The 
civil and religious rights of my loving subjects are equally dear 
to me with the most valuable prerogatives of my crown." * 
Other sentiments of a similar character followed, in which he de- 
clared that it would be the aim of his administration to maintain 
as far as possible the future peace of the empire, to protect the 
Protestant interest at home and abroad ; and he concluded with 
expressing the hope and the assurance that, in the accomplish- 
ment of these and other great results, he would possess the as- 
sistance of every honest man and good citizen, f The royal 
speech was received by the nation with acclamations of grate- 
ful pride and pleasure. 

The powerful hand of William Pitt still guided the helm 
of the ship of state with consummate ability. Had he been 
permitted to retain his influence and to execute his favorite 
measures, the same halo of glory which had illumined the nation 
ever since his accession to power, would undoubtedly have con- 
tinued to exist. But a dark and malignant spirit hovered behind 
the throne of the youthful monarch, which was destined to exert 
its powerful spell in effecting the removal of the nation's favor- 

* JBelsJiam's Memoirs of the Reign of George III., Vol. I., p. 6. 
t See Croly's Life and Times of George IV, p. 13. 



LITE AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 181 

ite, and in entailing a long series of pernicious measures and dis- 
asters. That spirit — the evil genius of George III. — was the cel- 
ebrated Lord Bute. 

Bute was a Scotch nobleman who possessed large estates in 
one of the Hebrides Islands. At an early age he had been 
chosen to fill a vacancy among the Scotch representative peers 
in parliament. He was a man of very ordinary ability, and was 
never reelected. During twenty years he remained in obscurity, 
either at his remote seat in the Hebrides, or subsequently as a 
member of the household of Prince Frederic. After the death 
of the prince, he succeeded in ingratiating himself into the affec- 
tions of the widowed princess. He became her favored lover. 
His chief recommendation for this place was the possession of a 
pleasing countenance, and a figure of rare beauty and symmetry. 
He was also a person of some literary cultivation, while his 
manners were courtly and agreeable. He gradually obtained 
an absolute influence over the mind and heart of the Princess 
Dowager ; and through her he began to govern the young king 
with a degree of success which daily acquired increasing strength. 
Bute was a Tory in sentiment, though his Toryism had been 
somewhat modified by the influence which had been exerted 
upon him, by the statesmen with whom he associated in the 
household of Prince Frederic, whose opinions more nearly re- 
sembled those of Lord Bolingbroke than those of any other British 
statesman. The very day after the accession of George III., Bute 
was sworn a member of the Privy Council. Shortly afterward, 
the Eangership of Richmond Park was taken from the Princess 
Amelia, and conferred upon him. It was very evident that other 
and much more important promotions would soon follow. Pitt 
became aware that a desperate cabal was already formed by 
Bute, for the purpose of changing the whole policy of the admin- 
istration ; by which means he himself would be precipitated from 
power, and the glory of the nation tarnished and obscured. Nor 
was this disagreeable apprehension long in being realized. Lord 
Bute soon informed his friend Doddington, that Lord Holder- 
ness, then a member of the Pitt cabinet, had agreed to quarrel 



182 HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

with his associates and resign. The vacancy thus created was 
to be supplied by himself; and a favorable opportunity was only 
waited for to put this initiatory step of the intrigue into operation. 
In March, 1761, the first parliament which sat since the ac- 
cession of George III. was prorogued, after a speech from the 
throne in which the young monarch commended and approved 
all that they had done. On the very same day the downfall of 
that great and powerful ministry which had made England the 
wonder and envy of the world, began by the dismissal of Mr. 
Legge, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.* He was personally 
offensive to the king in consequence of his refusal to obey the 
will of the monarch while Prince of Wales, in not withdrawing 
himself as a candidate for the knightship of the County of South- 
ampton ; in order to allow the substitution of a friend and favorite 
of the prince. George had not forgotten that act of independence, 
and punished it upon the earliest possible opportunity. The fall 
of Legge was followed two days afterward, by the resignation of 
Lord Holderness ; who, by a species of bribery which covers his 
memory with indelible disgrace, sold his office for the reversion 
of the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports. 

* Horace "Walpole, in his Memoirs of the Keign of George III., (edited by 
Sir Denis de Marchant, 4 vols., London, 1845,) thus speaks of the several persons 
referred to on this occasion : 

" Mr. Legge — chancellor of the exchequer : 

" With all his abilities, Legge was of a creeping, underhand nature, and as- 
pired to the lion's place by the manoeuvre of the mole.'" Vol. i., p. 301. 

" Winchelsea said Legge had had more masters than any man in England, 
and had never left one with a character." lb. p. 30. 

" Lord Temple— -privy seal : 

" This shameless and malignant man worked in the minds of successive fac- 
tions for nearly thirty years together. To relate them is writing his life." (Vol. 
ii. p. 359.) " Nothing could be more offensive than Lord Temple's conduct, 
whether considered in a public or private light. Opposition to his factious views 
Eeemed to let him loose from all ties, all restraint of principles ; and his brother 
was the object of his jealousy and resentment." Vol. i., p. 295. 

" Lord Holderness — secretary of state : 

" Orders were suddenly sent to Lord Holderness to give up the seals of sec- 
retary of state : the king adding, in discourse, that he had two secretaries, one 
(Mr. Pitt) who would do nothing, and the other (Lord Holderness) who oculd do 
nothing ; he would have one, who both could and would. This was Lord Bute. 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIKD. 183 

The Earl of Bute was instantly promoted to the place vacated 
by Lord Ilolderness. He appointed Lord Hawkesbury his 
under-secretary. Legge was succeeded by Sir Francis Dash- 
wood, a zealous Tory, but one of the most incompetent men who 
ever occupied a place of high trust and responsibility. Thus an 
effectual beginning had been made in accomplishing the entire 
change of the cabinet. Pitt still remained nominally at the head 
of affairs ; but it was easy to see that, with two determined and 
hostile ministers in the cabinet, the energy and boldness which 
had for some years wrought such wonders in the fortunes of 
England, would be shorn of a large portion of their strength. 
In addition to this adverse influence, there were other causes 
which aided in the eventual downfall of the great minister ; and 
substituted in his high place a man whose only recommendation 
was his fitness and acceptableness as the paramour of the Prin- 
cess Dowager. Yet while the vigorous and powerful genius of 
Pitt was achieving brilliant triumphs at one and the same time 
in America, in India, and in Germany ; while he made his coun- 

But, however low the talents of Lord Holderness deserved to be esti- 
mated, they did not suffer by comparison with those of his successor." Vol. i., 
pp. 4-^3. • 

Ana again, when he reappeared as governor to the Prince of Wales in 1771 : 

" Lord Holderness owed his preferment to his insignificance and to his wife, 
a lady of the bed-chamber to the queen, as she did hers to her daughter's gov- 
erness, whom the queen had seduced from her, to the great vexation of Lady 
Holderness. The governess, a French Protestant, ingratiated her late mistress 
with the queen, and her mistress soon became a favorite next to the German 
women." Vol. iv., p. 314. 

Of Lord Bute who succeeded Lord Holderness, and soon became first lord 
of the treasury, we need not repeat any of Walpole's general opinions, but we 
may extract the following summary of his character while minister : 

" Success and the tide of power swelled up the weak bladder of the favorite's 
mind," (vol. i., p. 177.) " His countenance of Fox was but consonant to the 
folly of his character," (p. 249.) " His intrigues to preserve power — the con- 
fusion he helped to throw into each succeeding system — his impotent and dark 
attempts to hang on the wheels of government, which he only clogged — all 
proved that neither virtue nor philosophy, but fear — and fear only — was the im- 
mediate and precipitate cause of his retreat. Yet let me not be thought to 
lament this weak man's pusillanimity ; had he been firm to himself, there was 
an end of the constitution. " 



184 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

try the mistress of the seas and the umpire of the continent ; 
while the guns of the Tower were reverberating from day to day 
with salvos of victory ; while the dwellings of the metropolis 
were frequently illuminated, and French banners were repeatedly 
carried through the streets, in honor of new achievements ; while 
his resistless eloquence resounded in the Commons, prostrating 
every opponent of his measures; kindling the enthusiasm, 
stirring the blood, and summoning tears to the eyes, of the 
patriotic representatives of the realm, and causing them to vote 
heartily and unanimously in favor of those immense subsidies 
which were necessary to the execution of his vast measures of 
offensive and defensive war; during all this time the more 
thoughtful portion of the nation began to recover from the delir- 
ium into which they had been thrown, and to survey the oppo- 
site side of the brilliant but delusive picture. They discovered 
that some of the acquisitions and triumphs which had been 
achieved, though they were honorable, were also expensive and 
unprofitable ; that England had been involved in the defense of 
the Hanoverian provinces of the king ; that British gold had 
paid for the military glories which clustered so thickly around 
the brow of the Prussian hero ; that while the whole attention 
of the minister was absorbed in these engrossing events, pecula- 
tion and embezzlement had crept into the Home government to 
a shameful and alarming extent ; that the National Debt had, in 
one short year, become so much increased, that it would require 
forty years of prosperous peace to liquidate the amount ; and 
that eight million pounds had been borrowed by the nation 
in twelve months. It was the assured conviction of thousands of 
the wisest Englishmen, that triumphs and splendors won at such 
a sacrifice were dear indeed ; and a sentiment of fear began to 
mingle with that prodigious admiration with which the greatest 
of English ministers was regarded by his prudent and calculating 
countrymen. To all this must be added the fact, that the pecu- 
liar doctrines of the great Tory party, of which the chief were 
a standing army, a national debt, a septennial parliament, and a 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 185 

government by aristocratic influence, no longer excited the ap- 
prehension and alarm which they formerly produced. 

This was the state of affairs when a crisis unfortunately oc- 
curred in the measures of the administration. Charles III. was 
now King of Spain and the Indies. He hated England with an 
intense hatred. He greatly envied the successes which had fol- 
lowed all the measures of Pitt. He secretly concluded a treaty 
with France termed the " Family Compact," the object of which 
was to make war conjointly upon England. But war was not to 
be declared in form until the arrival in Spain of an expected 
squadron from the Brazils freighted with a vast and prodigious 
treasure. Pitt had received information both of the treaty and 
of the treasure ; and he proposed in Council that an armament 
should be instantly dispatched to intercept the fleet, while at the 
same time war should be declared against the confederate 
powers. In this proposition he was supported by his brother- 
in-law, Earl Temple ; but the influence of Bute and his allies 
predominated, and the inestimable argosy amounting to several 
hundreds of millions in bullion was safely disembarked in the 
port of Cadiz. Pitt immediately resigned his place in the cab- 
inet ; declaring that he would no longer remain responsible for 
measures which he was no longer permitted to guide. 

Thus ended the most brilliant administration which England 
ever enjoyed. The Great Commoner was succeeded by the Earl 
of Egremont, a descendant of Sir William Windham, and a 
moderate Tory. He was a fair representative of that class of 
statesmen who were at that moment winning their way, under 
the guidance of Lord Bute, to supreme power in the state. 
Lord Temple and the Duke of Newcastle also resigned. To 
avert the unpopularity which the withdrawal of Pitt would in- 
evitably entail on the court, large offers of pecuniary provision 
were made him, and he was even invited to enter the peerage. 
The latter proposition he prudently refused ; but he was com- 
pelled by his necessities to accept a pension of three thousand 
pounds per annum, while his wife was created a peeress in her 
own right. By this means the popularity of the ex-minister was 



186 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

preserved, his pressing wants supplied, and the odium of the 
nation averted in some measure from the king and court, in conse- 
quence of the removal of their idol.* This event was still regard- 
ed as a national calamity. George III. received an unpleasant 
intimation of the wane of his popularity, upon the Lord Mayor's 
Day, which occurred shortly after these events. He dined ac- 
cording to custom at the Guildhall. The monarch, his young bride, 
and his cabinet, were scarcely noticed ; while Pitt's entrance was 
greeted by long and loud acclamations ; and on the return of the 
royal party to the palace, the carriage of Bute was hooted and 
pelted by a great multitude of the indignant and scurrilous pop- 
ulace.f 

On the fourth of January, 1762, war was declared against 
Spain with the usual formalities ; and letters of marque and 
reprisal were granted to privateers against the enemy. The 
king expressed in his address to the Commons " his regret at the 
unsuccessful termination of the late negotiations for peace, and 
his resolution to prosecute the war in the most effectual maimer, 
till the enemies of Great Britain, moved by their own losses, and 
touched with the miseries of so many nations, shall yield to her 
equitable conditions of an honorable peace." In accordance with 
these declarations, the new ministry endeavored to emulate the 
energy which had characterized the measures of Pitt. Bute led 
the court party in parliament?; and he acquitted himself with 
more success as an orator than had been anticipated from his 
limited abilities, and from his want of experience. An arma- 
ment consisting of eighteen ships of the line was sent under the 
command of Sir G. Eodney, to the island of Martinique, one of 
the most valuable colonies belonging to France. After- some 
resistance the island passed into the possession of the British. 
The same fate befell the islands of Grenada, St. Lucia, Tobago, 

* Similar offers of pecuniary remuneration were made by the King to the 
Duke of Newcastle ; but the Duke replied that " if he could no longer be per- 
mitted to serve his country, he was at least determined not to be a burden to it." 
See JSelsham's Reign of George III., Vol. L, p. 45. 

t Memoir of the Marquis of Rockingham and his Contemporaries. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 187 

and St. Vincents. Another fleet subsequently sailed under the 
orders of the Earl of Albemarle, which, arriving off the island 
of Cuba, disembarked a large body of troops in the vicinity of 
Havana, the capital of the island. The works of that city were 
valiantly defended by the Spanish governor, Don Louis de Ve- 
laseo ; but in spite of prodigious exertions and unsurpassed 
valor on his part, he was compelled to capitulate in August 
1762 ; and Havana, together with twelve Spanish line of battle 
ships then lying in the harbor, and an immense treasure, fell into 
the hands of the conquerors. Similar success followed the ex- 
pedition which was sent at this crisis against Manilla, the capital 
of the island of Luconia, the largest of the Philippines, command- 
ed by Sir William Draper and Admiral Cornish. A ransom 
of four million dollars was offered and accepted, to save the 
city from destruction by bombardment ; but the port and cit- 
adel of Cavite, and all the islands and fortresses connected with 
the government of Manilla, were included in the capitulation, 
and remained in the possession of the British. 

These triumphs of the armies and navies of England, while 
they filled the nation with exultation, did not increase the pop- 
ularity of the young king, or of his new ministry ; because it 
was generally supposed that these various expeditions, which had 
been crowned with such remarkable success, had originally been 
planned and suggested by the fallen minister ; and to him the 
credit of their fortunate issue was perversely ascribed. Further 
changes ensued at this period in the cabinet. The Earl of 
Hardwicke retired ; Lord Halifax took the Seals ; and Mr. Gren- 
ville was placed at the head of the Admiralty.* The Duke of 

* Horace Walpole describes this celebrated minister in the following strong 
but unfair and prejudiced language, in his Memoirs of the Reign of George III. : 

" Mr. Grenville had hitherto been known but as a fatiguing orator and inde- 
fatigable drudge, more likely to disgust than to offend. Beneath this useful, un- 
promising outside lay lurking great abilities ; courage so confounded with 
obstinacy that there was no drawing a line between them — good inten- 
tions to the public without one great view — much economy for that public, 
which, in truth, was the whole amount of his good intentions— excessive rapa- 
ciousuess and parsimony in himself— infinite self-conceit, implacability of temper, 



188 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

Grafton, Lord Ravensworth, and Lord Ashburnham ranged 
themselves on the side of the opposition, and served to swell the 
strength of that formidable combination which was soon to rise, 
resist, and overwhelm the power of the favorite of the king, and 
of his scandalous mother, the Princess Dowager. 

and a total want of principle. His ingratititde to his benefactor, Bute, and his 
reproaching Mr. Pitt, were but too often paralleled by the crimes of other men ; 
but scarce any man ever wore in his face such outward and visible marks of the 
hollow, cruel, and rotten heart within.* Vol. iv., p. 271. 

" The reversion of Lord Temple's estate could make even the inflexible 
Grenville stoop ; and if his acrimonious heart was obliged to pardon his brother 
[Lord Temple], it was indemnified by revenge on his sister's husband [Mr. PittJ. " 
Vol. ii., p. 174. 

Lord Egremont — secretary of state : 
"was a composition of pride, ill-nature, avarice and strict good breeding, with 
such infirmity of frame that he could not speak truth on the most trivial occasion." 

The same spirit is exhibited by Walpole in the following strictures on other 
members of this cabinet : 

" Lords Gower, {Lord Chamberlain, afterwards Lord President,) Weymouth, 
(Secretary of State,) and Sandwich, (First Lord of the Admiralty,) — all had parts, 
and never used them to any good or creditable purpose. The first had spirit 
enough to attempt any crime ; the other two, though notorious coivards, were 
equally fitted to serve a prosperous court. And Sandwich had a predilection to 
guilt, if he could couple it with artifice and treachery (ib.) Weymouth (Secretary 
of State) neither had nor affected any solid virtue. He was too proud to court 
the people, and too mean not to choose to owe his preferments to the favor of 
the court or the cabals of faction. He wasted the whole night in drinking, and 
the morning in sleep, even when secretary of state. No kind of principle en- 
tered into his plan or practice, nor shame for want of it. His vanity made him 
trust that his abilities, by making him necessary, could reconcile intrigue and 
inactivity. His timidity was womanish, and the only thing he did not fear was 
the ill-opinion of mankind." Vol. iv., p. 240. 



CHAPTEK II. 

Birth of the Prince of "Wales— Policy of the Bute Cahinet— Treaty of Peace -with Spain 
— Dissatisfaction of the Nation — Eloquence of Pitt and Fox— Resignation of Lord 
Bute — His Great Unpopularity— George Grenville becomes Premier — John "Wilkes 
— His Singular Character — His Wit— His Contest with the Court — His Expulsion 
from Parliament — His Arrest for Libel — His " Essay on "Woman " — His Intrepidity 
— His ultimate Triumph over the Ministers. 

On the 12th of August, 1762, the monarch and nation were grat- 
ified by the birth of an heir to the throne. The infant prince 
was he who afterward became the magnificent and miserable 
George IV. The Archbishop of Canterbury alone was present 
on the occasion, and the child was baptized a few days afterward 
by that prelate, whom Horace Walpole wittily termed " the 
Right Rev. Midwife Thomas Seeker." * The coronation of the 
king had been performed with great pomp and splendor on the 
22d of September preceding. A singular and ominous incident 
occurred on this occasion. As the king was moving about with 
the crown on his head, the great diamond which formed its chief 
and most valuable ornament fell to the ground, and was not re- 

* This singular and witty writer thus describes the incidents connected with 
the ceremony : 

" Our next monarch was christened last night, George Augustus Frederick. 
The Princess (Dowager of Wales), the Duke of Cumberland and the Duke of 
Mecklenburgh, sponsors. The queen's bed, magnificent, and they say, in taste, 
was placed in the drawing-room, though she is not to see company in form, yet 
it looks as if they had intended people should have been there, as all who pre- 
sented themselves were admitted, which were very few, for it had not been no- 
tified. I suppose to prevent too great a crowd ; all I have heard named, beside 
those in waiting, were the Duchess of Queensberry, Lady Dalkeith, Mrs. Gren- 
ville, and about four other ladies." See WalpoMa Letters, &c. 



190 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

covered without great difficulty. That diamond might well be 
supposed to represent the jewel of America, which was soon 
destined to drop from the chaplet of his possessions. A more 
pleasing incident was the petition of the king that, while par- 
taking the sacrament, he might be allowed to remove the diadem 
from his head as an indication of his piety and humility. This 
act would have been contrary to the established ceremonial of 
the occasion. The bishops however consulted ; were greatly em- 
barassed by the demand of the king ; yet they finally concluded 
that it might be complied with without any detriment to the 
nation. A similar request on the part of the queen was refused, 
in consequence of the difficulty of removing the crown from her 
head without the assistance of her dressers. The various cer- 
emonies of this occasion were exceedingly tedious, and darkness 
descended upon the gorgeous scene before they were completed. 
The magnificent Hall of Westminster was crowded by a vast 
and admiring multitude ; and never before had the ancient and 
opulent nobility of England shone with more splendor. Among 
the innumerable crowd, it was afterward reported, was the exiled 
Pretender, who ventured thither incognito to witness a gorgeous 
ceremonial in which he should have been, according to the opin- 
ions of a portion of the nation, the principal personage. It is 
further said that the fallen prince was recognized by a nobleman ; 
that he assured him that " he was present merely out of curios- 
ity, and that the man who was the object of all that pomp and 
splendor was the one whom least he envied." The festivities 
continued in the capital during several days ; the starving poets 
sang in fulsome numbers the glories of the youthful sovereign ; 
and the nation seemed to have become a temporary model of 
satisfied amiability. A few discontents only, unwilling to ap- 
preciate the general joy, growled out their intense disgust at the 
" petticoat government " and the power of the licentious favorite, 
which then ruled the monarch and his cabinet. But the king 
was either incapable of perceiving the relation which had long 
subsisted between his mother and Lord Bute ; or he was indiffer- 
ent to the subject. If the former were the true state of the case, 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 191 

he furnished another evidence of the fact that those who are 
most deeply injured and disgraced by family outrages or dis- 
honors, are oftentimes the last to discover the existence of the 
calamity which has befallen them. 

It now became the policy of the Bute cabinet to conclude the 
war by a favorable peace. The prime minister thought it less 
difficult to retain the slender share of popularity which he pos- 
sessed amid the tranquil scenes which a general amity would 
produce, than amid the trying vicissitudes of war. He accord- 
ingly gave secret intimations to the enemy that the renewal of 
negotiations for peace would be acceptable to the British govern- 
ment ; and the King of Sardinia was solicited to act as mediator 
between the hostile powers. The courts of France and Spain 
were not. unwilling to terminate a war in which the arms of 
Britain had been covered with glory, and in which conquest 
after conquest had followed in the wake of her victories. The 
steps of conciliation were so quickly taken that preliminaries of 
peace were signed and interchanged at Fontainebleau, in Novem- 
ber, 1762, between the representatives of England, France, Spain 
and Portugal. 

The proposed peace was utterly distasteful to the nation. 
They were elated by the victories which their arms had achieved, 
and the most sanguine hopes had been entertained in regard 
to the extent and splendor of future triumphs. They indulged 
in golden dreams in reference to the possession^pf the realms of 
Mexico and Peru, whose vast treasures and whose valuable ter- 
ritories they hoped to see united to the British crown. Not- 
withstanding this state of the public mind, Bute and his confed- 
erates persisted in completing the treaty. On the 25th of No- 
vember parliament met, and the king informed them in a speech 
from the throne that the arrangements for peace had all been 
agreed upon, and only awaited the sanction of the Legislature, 
for their final and complete adoption. 

The debate which ensued was one of the most violent which 
ever shook the British parliament. Lord Bute commenced the 
deliberations by setting forth in a clear and accurate manner 



192 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

the various provisions of the treaty which had been adopted. 
These provisions were as follows : The entire province of Canada 
was ceded to the English ; together with all that portion of Louis- 
iana which lay to the east of the Mississippi, the Cape Breton, 
and all the islands which studded the gulf and river of St. Law- 
rence. In the West Indies, the islands of Grenada, the Gren- 
adines, Dominique, St. Vincent, and Tobago were also guaran- 
teed to Britain. In Africa they were to possess Senegal, and in 
the East Indies, the coasts of Coromandel. The French monarch 
also acknowledged the supremacy of the British in Bengal, in 
the Carnatic and in the Decan ; he agreed to restore Minorca, 
and demolish the fortifications and harbor of Dunkirk ; he stipu- 
lated that Hanover and Hesse, and the fortresses of Cleves, 
Nesil and Guildiers should be evacuated by the French troops 
which at that time occupied them. The Spanish monarch guar- 
anteed to England the full possession of the Eastern and West- 
ern Floridas, and all the Spanish possessions on the North 
American Continent to the east and south-east of the Mississippi. 
In return for all these vast and valuable concessions, the British 
cabinet promised to transfer to France the island of Belleisle ; 
in Africa, the island of Goree ; in the West Indies, Guadaloupe, 
Martinique, and St. Lucia ; in the East Indies, Pondicherry and 
Chandernagore, the islands of St. Pierre and Miguelon ; while 
Cuba, the Havana, and the Manillas were to be restored to the 
Spanish monarch. The terms of this treaty were in themselves 
by no means dishonorable or disadvantageous to the British 
nation. 

But it was a sufficient objection to this treaty, both with the 
people and with the opposition, that it had been negotiated by 
the Bute cabinet. In order to carry the bill which approved it, 
it became necessary for the administration to put forth pro- 
digious exertions. After Lord Bute had set forth the provisions 
of the treaty at length, he was answered and defended by all the 
great orators who flourished at that time in parliament. Some 
of these had been bought over by bribes which even Walpole 
himself would not have ventured to offer. Hundreds of mem- 



LITE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 193 

bers had been secretly closeted with Henry Fox, the able and 
unscrupulous Paymaster of the Forces ; and had departed from 
his inner cabinet carrying in their pockets the exorbitant prices 
at which they had sold their integrity. It has been asserted that 
in this way the minister disbursed twenty-five thousand pounds 
in a single morning. Every resource of the government was 
employed to muster influence, eloquence and votes, on this mo- 
mentous occasion, in support of the administration. When 
therefore the debate progressed, some prominent members sup- 
ported the treaty from whom a different course of action had 
been anticipated. But still the conflict was manfully maintained 
by the opposition. Their chief reliance was on the influence and 
eloquence of Pitt. The discussion had continued several days, when 
the ex-minister, who was still suffering under a severe attack of 
gout, rose from his bed, had his limbs swathed in heavy wrap- 
pings of flannel, and with crutch in hand reached the chair which 
usually conveyed him to the house. His progress thither was 
accompanied by the shouts and acclamations of a great multitude. 
Having arrived, he was carried by his attendants into the house 
and placed within the bar. As may well be supposed, his ap- 
pearance attracted universal attention ; for he already began to 
be but the shadow of his former magnificent self. At the first 
opportunity he rose to speak. He declaimed three hours and a 
half against the treaty. But his declamation on this occasion 
was comparatively feeble, and showed little resemblance to the 
overwhelming and powerful rhetoric of his prime. His voice 
was feeble, and several times he was compelled to stop and have 
recourse to cordials. At length he sat down, and every hearer 
was convinced that the oratorical glory of the Great Commoner 
had passed away for ever. 

His great rival Henry Fox then rose to reply. He answered 
the arguments of Pitt in a speech of two hours' duration, and clearly 
demonstrated the propriety, the profitableness, and the necessity 
of the treaty. Never had his manly declamation and vigorous, 
compact logic been better exhibited than on this occasion ; and 
after he had concluded, the vote was taken. The long labors and 
9 



194: HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

skilful tactics of the ministry were rewarded by a signal vic- 
tory. The treaty was sustained by an overwhelming majority. 

The king, the court, the cabinet and their partisans, all ex- 
hibited the utmost exultation. George III. realized in this in- 
stance the fulfilment of the great principle which guided him, 
sometimes wisely and sometimes blindly, throughout his whole 
administration; he had preserved the integrity of the empire. 
The Princess Dowager exclaimed as soon as she heard the news : 
" Now indeed my son is really king." It was generally sup- 
posed that this triumph would secure to the favorite minister a 
long tenure of undisturbed possession of power. But the very 
next measure proposed by the cabinet, destroyed the popularity 
which the prestige of this victory had gained them. The ex- 
penses of the war had created an immense arrear of debt. It 
was necessary to devise some new method for reducing the 
interest ; and among the expedients proposed by the Chancellor 
of the Exchequer was a tax of four shillings upon every hogs- 
head of cider, to be paid by the manufacturer. The opposition 
eagerly seized this proposition to assail the ministry. The 
Cider-Land, especially Herefordshire and Worcestershire, were 
particularly incensed by this attack upon their peculiar interests. 
The city of London presented a petition against the bill at the 
bar of the House of Commons. But notwithstanding these and 
other indications of hostility to the measure, the tax was im- 
posed ; though in the House of Lords forty-three peers divided 
against it. This was destined to be the last triumph of the Bute 
cabinet ; to achieve which, the same extreme processes of bribery 
and corruption had been adopted, which had been essential to the 
attainment of all the preceding triumphs of that detested min- 
ister. The whole nation was suddenly astounded, immediately 
after this event, with the news that Lord Bute had resigned. 

It is not difficult to discover the reason which led to this un- 
expected result. It lies upon the surface, although the advocates 
of the fallen favorite ascribed many other causes for it than the 
real one. They indeed asserted that all his political purposes 
had been accomplished ; and that by voluntarily retiring to 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 195 

private life he was willing to give his enemies an opportunity to 
prove and punish any crimes which they might lay to his charge. 
This was more plausible and complimentary than true. Bute 
was influenced by much more selfish motives in his retirement. 
He could not but be conscious that he had become the object of 
the detestation of the nation. He was the favorite lover of the 
Princess Dowager, and he was despised as all such creatures de- 
serve to be. He was a Scotchman ; and at that time the preju- 
dice which existed in England against the Scotch, resembled in in- 
tensity and unreasonableness that which existed during the reign of 
William III. against the Dutch ; and the promotion of Scotchmen 
to places of emolument and trust by the minister had increased the 
popular hatred against their name and nation. During Bute's 
administration, public caricatures, libels and pasquinades had been 
carried to an extreme of audacity which had never before been 
seen in England. The uniform symbol by which he was known 
and ridiculed was a great jack-boot, which was usually accom- 
panied by a petticoat ; and these were often hung upon a gallows, 
or consigned to the flames. Previous to the year 1763, all po- 
litical libellers confined themselves to giving the initials of the 
names of their unfortunate victims. During the hated supremacy 
of Bute, the names of the monarch, of his amorous mother, of 
her favorite minister, and of his chief supporters were boldly and 
unscrupulously appended to the most abusive and obnoxious 
strictures.* It is reasonable to suppose that all this was very 
distasteful to a man who had lived until his forty-eighth year in 
the enjoyment of undisturbed repose and of unmingled respect. 
He was doubtless appalled at the overwhelming torrent of bitter 
invective and merciless ridicule which was directed upon his 
head. He found himself suddenly rendered the most unpopular 
minister who had ever directed the destinies of England. He 
could not possibly foresee where all this hostility might end. 
If he persisted in his line of policy, it might conduct him to an im- 
peachment and even to the scaffold. So far as the gratification of 

* A curious collection of the libels and caricatures of the day will be found in 
" Wright's History of England under the House of Hanover," Vol. i., passim. 



196 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

his .ambition was concerned, lie had doubtless become fully satia- 
ted with the turbulent and ignominious splendors of place and 
power, lie had ascended the pinnacle of human greatness; he 
had seated himself upon its most exalted eminence; and he had 
found that, at that dizzy elevation, tempests raged and whirl- 
winds blew around him with a degree of fearful violence utterly 
unknown in the calmer regions below. It is not to be wondered 
at, therefore, that he hastened to descend from a position, the 
dangers and miseries of which, could only be conceived of by 
those who had practically experienced them. 

George Grenville succeeded to the post of prime minister. 
This statesman was the brother of Lord Temple, and the brother- 
in-law of Pitt. He was a man of narrow intellect, yet indus- 
trious, energetic, and perfectly at home amid the most intricate 
details of business. He was well acquainted with all the re- 
sources and the finances of the empire. He was also master of 
the whole system of the orders and privileges o( the House of 
Commons. His speeches, though always tedious and dull, were 
often instructive, learned, and impressive. He was honest, but 
at the same time parsimonious and cautious. The same narrow 
and prudent thrift which characterized his private dealings, 
marked all his public measures. He was as unpopular with the 
multitude as misers generally are ; yet he was as indifferent to 
public censure as was the most obscure and hardened among 
them. Having attained the first place in the administration, his 
grasping nature soon rendered him as avaricious of power as he 
had ever been of money. 

An attempt was made at this time by the Duke of Cumber- 
land to unite some of the discordant elements which warred 
within the bosom of the state, and centre them harmoniously in 
the administration. A special effort was made to induce Pitt to 
return to office. These exertions ended in complete failure ; and 
that failure greatly increased the intensity ol' party rage. The 
press teemed with the most furious attacks on the government ; 
and among the most offensive of all these, Mas a journal printed 
and published by John Wilkes termed the North Briton. Each 



LIFE A2TD REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 197 

number of this vile sheet was more scurrilous than its predeces- 
sor ; until at length the forty-fifth number contained a personal 
and outrageous attack upon the king, which the court and the 
ministry thought it necessary to punish by a judicial proceeding. 
A general -warrant was issued under the seal of Lord Halifax for 
the arrest of John Wilkes under the charge of uttering a se- 
ditious libel ; and he was arrested late at night at his residence, 
on the 29th of April, 1763. 

The character and history of this man, who was destined to 
play so distinguished a part in English history, has little to 
commend him to the admiration of his countrymen or of pos- 
terity. He was born at London in 1727, and was the son of a 
respectable distiller. By a course of unexampled profligacy he 
had at an early age ruined his fortune and his reputation. He 
had received a thorough education, he possessed agreeable man- 
ners, and had married in 1749 an heiress named Mead, much 
older than himself, from whom he afterward separated. He was 
the habitue of all the fashionable houses of dissipation in the 
capital. He associated with men of fortune, without possessing 
the necessary means to indulge in their expensive pleasures. 
His wit was remarkable for its originality and its coarseness ; 
and his admirable convivial qualities constantly led him into 
scenes of ruinous and excessive dissoluteness. To repair his 
broken fortunes he had applied to the ministers on several occa- 
sions for promotion to office. Lie besought Pitt, when in power, 
to bestow upon him a seat at the Board of Trade. He afterward 
endeavored to obtain from Lord Bute, the appointment of am- 
bassador to Constantinople. Later still, his application for the 
post of Governor of Canada was pressed upon Grenville with 
great earnestness. In all these ambitious schemes he met with 
a complete and ignominious failure ; a result which was owing 
chiefly to the desperate degradation of his private character. In 
his person he was so hideously ugly, that no caricaturist could do 
justice to his horrible squint and his demoniacal grin. In spite 
of all these disadvantages, he could boast of many conquests in 
the field of amorous adventure. Having been defeated in every 



198 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

other effort, he obtained at length a seat in parliament, and sat 
for the borough of Aylesbury. But he broke down utterly as 
an orator, and was insignificant and unnoticed among the great 
statesmen of the nation. In two capacities alone could this des- 
perate and shameless adventurer excel. He ranked as the most 
unbridled, profane, and agreeable rake in the metropolis. He 
was also able to render himself the most dangerous and formi- 
dable libeller in the country, by using and abusing the then un- 
defined and uncertain license of the press. The former bad pre- 
eminence he already possessed ; and he entertained no fears that 
that preeminence would be endangered by any successful rival. 
He therefore determined at this crisis to try what his other, and 
scarcely more respectable forte, might accomplish for the ad- 
vancement of his ruined interests, and for the elevation of his 
dishonored name. This was the purpose of the establishment of 
the North Briton Newspaper, a number of which caused the 
issue of the warrant against his person. 

The only species of talent which Wilkes possessed was that 
of sarcastic and ribald wit. In this questionable field he was 
unrivalled ; and some of his repartees which have escaped 
oblivion indicate a high degree of ability. One or two instances 
will clearly establish this position. Lord Sandwich inquired of 
him contemptuously, whether he thought he should die by the 
halter, or by a certain disease. He instantly replied : " That de- 
pends upon whether I embrace your Lordship's principles or 
your mistress." When the profane, selfish, and unprincipled 
Lord Thurlow exclaimed in parliament, for the purpose of win- 
ning the favor of the court : " If I forget my sovereign may my 
God forget me ! " Wilkes, who was seated near him answered, 
with that horrid squint and demoniac grin directed toward him . 
" Forget you 1 No, he will see you damned first." The usual 
conversation of this unequalled political pimp was made up of 
blasphemy, indecency, and ribaldry. Every thing which he said 
and did partook of this foul character. Thus when writing to Ju- 
nius, he declared that the private letters of the Great Unknown 
" stirred up his spirits like a kiss from Chloe." * 
* Woodfall's Junius, i., 325. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 199 

Among the many vices of Wilkes cowardice could not be 
numbered. His arrest furnished him with a most favorable op- 
portunity for commencing, on a grand scale, the role of a dem- 
agogue, and defender of the rights of the press and of the people. 
Accordingly, immediately after his committal to the Tower, he 
made application by counsel to the Court of Common Pleas for 
a writ of Habeas Corpus. The writ was granted, directed to the 
constable of the tower, and made returnable the next day in 
Westminster Hall. After the pleadings were filed and argu- 
ment made on both sides, the judges held the case under advise- 
ment until the sixth of May. On that day the Lord Chief Jus- 
tice Pratt, afterwards Lord Camden, gave the opinion of the 
court, to the effect that the commitment of Wilkes was legal ; 
that the warrant of the Secretary of State, however, was not su- 
perior in force to that of a justice of the peace; that it was 
not necessary to specify in the warrant the particular passages 
in the North Briton which contained the alleged libel ; and that 
the privilege of parliament was violated in the arrest of the 
person of the defendant, at that time a member of it. The Chief 
Justice further held that the privilege of Parliament could only 
be forfeited by the crimes of treason, felony, and breach of the 
peace. Wilkes was then discharged from arrest ; but he was 
forthwith prosecuted by the Attorney-General, and dismissed 
from his command as colonel of the Buckinghamshire militia. 

These incidents were but the beginning of troubles. Wilkes 
refused to make an answer to the information filed against him, 
by the king's Attorney-General ; and when Parliament convened 
in November, 1763, he prepared to enter a formal complaint for 
the breach of privilege made in his person. He was anticipated 
in this step by the promptness of Mr. Grenville, who informed 
the House that he had a message to deliver from the king. The 
message was immediately read. It set forth that his majesty 
having received information that Wilkes, a member of the 
House, was the author of a seditious and dangerous libel, had 
caused him to be apprehended therefor ; that he had been dis- 
charged by the Court of Common Pleas on the ground of his 



200 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

privilege as a member of Parliament ; and that the king, desirous 
that public justice should not thus be eluded, had ordered all the 
papers relating to the matter to be laid on the table of the House, 
and he invited their attention to the subject. A violent de- 
bate ensued. The principle for which Wilkes contended found 
many able advocates among the members. At last, however, 
a vote being taken, a great majority decided that number Forty- 
Five of the North Briton contained a false, scandalous, and ma- 
licious libel, manifestly tending to alienate the affections of the 
people from his Majesty, and excite them to traitorous insurrec- 
tions. They further ordered the paper to be burnt by the com- 
mon hangman. 

Wilkes was not intimidated in the least by these measures. 
He boldly brought forward his complaint of breach of privilege 
by the imprisonment of his person, and the seizure of his papers. 
Before this subject could be discussed by the House, Wilkes was 
dangerously wounded in a duel with Mr. Martin, a member for 
Camelford ; and the matter was postponed till his recovery. On 
the 28d of November the king's message was taken into consid- 
eration. The House resolved, after a full discussion, by a major- 
ity of a hundred and twenty-five votes, that the privilege of pai-- 
liament did not extend to a case of libel ; and the peers addressed 
a memorial to his majesty setting forth their detestation of the 
arts of the demagogue, and their devotion to his person. Among 
the few eminent members who opposed these decisions was Pitt ; 
who contended that they tended to abridge the freedom and in- 
dependence of parliament, by subjecting every member who did 
not vote with the minister to the dread of imprisonment. 

When the day arrived for the public burning of Wilkes' pa- 
per, a great riot occurred ; the paper was rescued from the hands 
of the hangman ; the peace officers were attacked ; a jack-boot 
and petticoat were committed to the flames ; and the sheriffs 
placed in great danger of their lives. The parliament imme- 
diately resolved that the rioters should be punished as disturbers 
of the peace ; that their conduct was dangerous to public liberty ; 
and that the sheriffs and officers deserved the thanks of the coun- 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 201 

try. Notwithstanding all this adverse influence, Wilkes re- 
covered damages to the amount of a thousand pounds against 
Lord Halifax for the seizure of his papers, after a trial of fifteen 
hours' duration. Chief Justice Pratt presided, and in his charge 
to the jury he instructed them that general warrants, such as 
that issued in the first instance against Wilkes, were illegal. On 
the other hand Parliament decreed, on the 29th of January, 1764, 
after a vehement and protracted debate, that Wilkes should be 
expelled from his seat in the House. On the same day a singular 
development was made in the House of Peers. The Earl of 
Sandwich rose and informed the members that John Wilkes had 
outraged religion and decency by printing a book of the most 
scandalous and licentious character, entitled an Essay on Woman ; 
to which notes had been appended which were falsely ascribed to 
a learned and right reverend prelate, Warburton, Bishop of 
Gloucester. The facts in reference to this book were curious. 
Wilkes wrote it, intending it as a parody on Pope's Essay on 
Man. He had printed it at a private press ; only a small num- 
ber of copies had been struck off; and these were intended for 
the -boon companions of his licentious and dissolute hours. The 
prime minister had heard of its existence, and had obtained a 
copy by heavily bribing the printer, which he laid on the table 
of the House. The instrument used in this trickery was Lord 
March, one of the most depraved and unscrupulous compan- 
ions of Wilkes himself. 

The unfairness of the means thus employed by the govern- 
ment to injure Wilkes, rendered him what he chiefly desired to 
become, a persecuted man, and a representative of popular lib- 
erty. The steps taken against him by Parliament only added 
to the popularity of this vile demagogue, who really despised 
liberty as much as he contemned religion and decency. He was 
censured by the House, and finally outlawed. Thus after a fierce 
and protracted struggle, it remained a drawn battle between the 
combatants. The Parliament declared general warrants to be 
illegal, and Wilkes had recovered damages for his arrest. But 
his paper had been stigmatized as a libel, he had been deprived 
9* 



202 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

of his military rank, he had lost his seat in the House, and he 
was in fact a disgraced and ruined man ; to whom the empty ad- 
ulation of the multitude could be no equivalent for the torrent of 
execration and contumely from the intelligent and estimable por- 
tion of the nation, which overwhelmed him.* 

* See the Correspondence of the late George Wil&es with his Friends, printed 
from the Original Manuscripts ; with a Memoir of his Life. By John Almon. 
6 vols. London, 1805. 



CHAPTEK III. 



Financial Affairs of the Nation— Kesolution to impose Stamp Duties on the American 
Colonies — A Council of Regency Appointed — Death of the Duke of Cumberland — 
The Rockingham Ministry — Inefficiency of this Cabinet — First appearance of Burke 
in Parliament — Dispute with the American Colonies — Discussions in reference to 
their Taxation — Arguments advanced on both sides of the Question — Return of 
William Pitt to Power. 



The financial difficulties of the nation still engaged the attention 
of the prime minister. The annual revenues "were insufficient in 
the year 1765, to meet the annual expenses of the government. 
Therefore it was that George Grenville felt the necessity of devi- 
sing some new sources of income ; and his sharp but contracted in- 
tellect discovered an expedient, of the real importance of which he 
had not the remotest conception, but which was the most decisive 
and momentous in its results ever proposed or executed by any 
statesman. It occurred to him that the British colonies in Amer- 
ica should be taxed in order to increase the home revenue. This 
was a measure, the boldness of which had appalled even the res- 
olute heart of Robert Walpole, "who declared during his admin- 
istration, that it was a project far too hazardous for him to 
venture upon. 

The plan adopted by which such taxation might be imposed 
upon the subjects of Britain in America, was that of Stamp Du- 
ties. It required that the innumerable certificates, dockets, clear- 
ances, and affidavits, used in the transactions of commerce be- 
tween the two countries, must, in order to be valid, be printed 
on stamped paper ; and for that stamped paper an exorbitant 
price was demanded. Nor was the increased expense the only 



204 HISTOKY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

obnoxious feature in this new expedient of the minister. The 
right therein asserted by England to tax the colonies at her 
will for her own exclusive benefit, without allowing them the 
right of representation in the parliament, involved a principle of 
oppression which would not only be pernicious in itself, but would 
inevitably lead to other and greater extremes of tyranny, to 
which no possible limit could be set. As soon as information 
reached the colonies of this proposed imposition, many petitions 
and memorials were sent by them to the sovereign, denying the 
right of the mother-country to levy such a tax, and denouncing 
the measure as unjust and inexpedient in itself. But all the ar- 
guments used were met by the assertion, that it was but proper 
that the colonies should contribute their share to the general ex- 
penses of the empire ; that large sums of money had been fre- 
quently voted by parliament to the colonies, to indemnify them 
for the losses which they had sustained in the wars which had 
been waged against the enemies of Britain on the American con- 
tinent ; and that something was due in return for the protection 
and assistance which had been received from the mother 
country.* 

While this momentous theme was being agitated in both 
continents, several domestic incidents of great importance oc- 
curred to the person and the family of George III. The king 
began to give, at this period, the first temporary indications of 
that mental disease to which he afterward became entirely 

* In the month of February, 1756, the sum of £115,000 was voted by Par- 
liament, as a free gift and reward to the colonies of New England, New York, 
and Jersey, for their past services ; and as an encouragement to continue to 
exert themselves with vigor ; May, 1757, £50,000 was in like manner voted to 
the Carolinas ; and in 1758, £41,000 to Massachusetts and Connecticut. April, 
1709, £200,000 were voted as a compensation to the respective colonies in North 
America— March, 1760, £200,000—1761, £200,000—1762, £133,000— in all, one 
million seventy-two thousand pounds. Exclusive, however, of these indem- 
nifications, and of the extraordinary supplies granted in the different colonial 
assemblies, a debt of above two millions and a half had been incurred by Amer- 
ica during the war ; and this debt was far from being as yet liquidated. But 
it might be inferred from the conduct of the ministry, that the most trivial reve- 
nue extorted from America was deemed preferable to the largest sums freely and 
voluntarily granted. Belsham's Memoirs of George III. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 205 

subject. The heir apparent was still in his minority, being only- 
two years old, and no public provision had been made to carry 
on the government in case a total aberration of the intellect of 
the sovereign occurred. In April, 1765, the matter was brought 
before the House of Peers at the instance of the monarch himself. 
A bill was accordingly introduced into that body, framed in ac- 
cordance with the plan of the Regency Act of the Twenty-fourth 
of George II. empowering the king to appoint the queen or any 
other member of the royal family resident in Great Britain, as 
regent until the heir apparent should have attained the age of 
eighteen years. The Council of the Regency were to include the 
Dukes of York and Gloucester, Princes Henry Frederic and 
Frederic William, William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, and 
the cabinet ministers. By this means the most pressing emer- 
gency of the crown was provided for. Subsequently the name of 
the Princess Dowager was added to the list of the Council, in 
consequence of the strenuous representations of her friends in the 
government. The princess was obnoxious to Grenville and to 
the cabinet which he ruled. The effort which he had made to 
exclude her from the regency offended the king ; and had it been 
possible to effect an arrangement with Pitt at this crisis, he 
would have supplanted Grenville in the premiership. But the 
secret negotiations which were opened on the subject failed. 

The other domestic incident of importance was the death of 
the Duke of Cumberland, uncle of George III. The health of the 
favorite son of Caroline had long been failing. He had been 
suffering from a paralytic stroke, and had nearly become blind. 
On the perilous day of Dettingen, he received a wound which 
had never been entirely cured. His military talents were 
respectable ; and the triumph of Culloden which he tarnished by 
unparalleled cruelties to the Scotch had made him the lasting 
favorite of the English nation. To him had fallen the rare good 
fortune, to have fought and won on that day one of the decisive 
battles of the world. He enjoyed the singular lot of receiving 
from his countrymen the constant and ambiguous title of " the 
Duke ; " a peculiarity which has characterized but three English- 



206 HISTOKY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

men — Marlborough, Wellington, and himself. His nature was 
cruel and fierce ; and he was feared much more than he was 
loved. On one occasion his nephew, afterward George III., en- 
tered his apartment, which was so completely hung around with 
all kinds of deadly weapons, that it very much resembled a min- 
iature arsenal. He took down a sword to exhibit it to his vis- 
itor. The latter turned pale, fearing lest the purpose of his rude 
uncle might be, to dispatch him after the example of a certain 
Duke of Gloucester, of bloody and savage memory. Yet the Duke 
possessed some generous traits. Having once lost his pocket- 
book at the Newmarket races, he remarked to a half-pay officer 
who had found it, and brought it to him : " Pray keep it, Sir ; if 
you had not found it, its contents would before this have been 
in the hands of the blacklegs." On the 31st of October, 1765, 
when at his town-house in Grosvenor Street, he was suddenly 
seized with a fit of suffocation. The Duke of Newcastle and 
Lord Albemarle were present. One of his valets attempted to 
bleed him. He quietly remarked : " It is all over," and im- 
mediately expired. Thus passed away the only member of the 
House of Hanover in England, who ever possessed the slightest 
claim to any superiority of intellect or elevation of soul. He 
died in his forty-sixth year. 

One of the last acts performed by the Duke was his intro- 
duction of the Rockingham ministry. At the earnest request of 
the king — who had learned to detest Grenville, his meanness, his 
narrow-mindedness and his everlasting speeches, beyond endur- 
ance — he had undertaken and performed this task. The Mar- 
quis of Rockingham was a person of great probity, of respectable 
talents, of amiable manners, and of excellent character. He was 
indeed no orator ; and never rose to address the house on any oc- 
casion, even after years of experience and practice, without a de- 
gree of nervous agitation which he could not conceal. His most 
eminent qualities were his prudence, and his familiar acquaintance 
with the wants and resources of the empire. Mr. Dowdeswell was 
appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Egmont became 
first Lord of the Admiralty, and the Duke of Grafton, a young 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 207 

nobleman afterward destined to an ignoble immortality by the 
powerful but partial pen of Junius, became Keeper of the Seals. 
General Conway was made Secretary of State ; and to him was 
intrusted the lead in the House of Commons. 

Not one of these ministers possessed any oratorical ability. 
Every impartial and intelligent observer supposed that a single 
blow from the powerful arm of the great Pitt, would crush them 
at once and for ever. The whole of them combined in one, 
would have been impotent before his tremendous power. They 
seem to have been aware of this fact ; and Rockingham exhib- 
ited his usual prudence in providing a protector against the ap- 
prehended assaults of the Titan, by enlisting the aid of another 
giant, younger, more learned, more eloquent, and now more en- 
ergetic than himself. Some time before this period a young Irish- 
man had arrived in London for the purpose of seeking his for- 
tune. He was poor ; and his first resource was very naturally 
an application for employment to the booksellers. His compo- 
sitions exhibited such rare superiority, such splendor of diction, 
such depth of argument, and such richness of imagination, that 
he escaped the usual fate of applicants both great and small 
under such circumstances, and his productions were accepted and 
published. His fame extended widely and rapidly and he be- 
came in a short time one of the most eminent men of letters in 
the metropolis, the associate and rival of Samuel Johnson. Nor 
were his talents confined to mere literary ability. The young 
adventurer possessed eloquence of a high order, and all the abilities 
which were essential to constitute a statesman. He had fortu- 
nately become known to the new minister, who fully appreciated 
his extraordinary merits. As soon as Lord Rockingham entered 
the cabinet, he appointed this " wild Irishman," named O'Bourke 
— afterward famous throughout the civilized world as Edmund 
Burke — as his private secretary, and forthwith secured his elec- 
tion to a seat in Parliament. 

The first measure of importance which engaged the attention 
of the new government was the impending dispute with the 
American Colonies. The subject was somewhat new to British 



208 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

statesmen, and three opinions prevailed among them in reference 
to it. One party were in favor of enforcing the Stamp Act by 
all the rigors of military power. They contended that the gov- 
ernment possessed ample authority to impose whatever taxes 
they decreed necessary, throughout the whole British Empire ; 
and that British subjects everywhere were bound, on pain of 
treason, to yield implicit obedience to the requisition. They 
further held that it was in the highest degree expedient to enforce 
this tax. In America, there were young and vigorous states 
which had been planted, nurtured, and protected by the mother 
country. They were increasing day by day in wealth, influence, 
and prosperity. They were abundantly able to bear the light 
and easy burden of taxation which had been imposed upon them. 
England had been greatly embarrassed by the immense expenses 
of the war which had recently been terminated ; and the colonies 
had derived important advantages from a conflict, from the cost 
of which they had been exempt. It was high time, therefore, that 
they should be made to share a portion of the general burdens. 
This was the opinion of the king and of the court. 

Another party held that, though the Act imposing the tax 
lay within the constitutional competence of parliament, it was 
most unwise and inexpedient to enforce it. They believed that 
the British King and his Legislature had power to pass any law 
they pleased, and that law would be valid. They might, if they 
chose, abolish the most valuable rights of the subject ; they 
might repeal the Habeas Corpus Act, and the Toleration Act ; 
and such repeal would possess all the force of constitutional law. 
In this view the taxation of the American Colonies was legal ; 
but they contended that it was at that time inexpedient. The 
loyalty of the colonists was not as strong as it might be ; a 
powerful party among them was already hostile to British su- 
premacy ; it would be impossible to enforce the act upon three 
millions of subjects against their will ; and it was much wiser to 
repeal it at once with a good grace. These views were held by 
Lord Rockingham, and defended by his adherents.* 

* The debates which occurred in the British Parliament on this question as 



LIFE AJSTD EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 209 

A third party, headed by William Pitt, contended that Par- 
liament was not competent to tax the colonies, and that the Act 
was in itself null and void. This position he defended with great 
eloquence and force. The chief argument which may be ad- 
vanced in support of this position, is based on the principle that 
in justice there can be no taxation without representation. 
However true the position may be in -general, that the British 
Legislature was competent to pass laws taxing all British sub- 
jects, that position is qualified by the single restriction, that those 
subjects thus taxed should be represented in the national Legis- 
lature. They should be permitted to have a voice in reference 
to the adoption of measures, the expenses and the consequences 
of which they were expected to share. Having had no part in 
the councils of the home government, no influence in the adoption 
or rejection of the policy pursued, either in reference to them- 
selves or to others, they should be free from all responsibility on 
the subject. 

These were the views entertained by the colonists them- 
selves. The Stamp Act was permitted by the British govern- 
ment to retain the force of law ; but when the day appointed for 
its operation to commence arrived, the people displayed the ut- 
most indignation against it. The colors of the ships in the Ameri- 
can harbors were hung at half-mast. The muffled bells of the 
churches sounded forth mournful peals. Copies of the Act were 
burnt by the populace. Cargoes of the stamped paper were taken 
from the ships, and consigned to the flames. The houses of those 
who had been appointed to sell the stamps were assailed by mobs ; 
and justices of the peace gave notice that they would regard the 
use of such paper in their judicial proceedings as invalid. On 
the 1st of November, 1768, the day appointed for the use of 
the stamps to commence throughout the colonies, scarcely a 
sheet of it could be found. The provincial assemblies met and 

well as on all others, are to be found in their greatest fulness and accuracy in 
" The Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period to the Year 
1803," in thirty-six volumes, octavo, London. For the proceedings in reference 
to the Stamp Act, and its Kepeal, see Vol. xvi., published in 1813, p. 162, seq. 



210 HISTORY OF THE FOTJK GEORGES. 

passed resolutions condemning the Act, and commanding all good 
citizens to denounce and resist their introduction. The whole 
continent had risen in arms against the law. 

The administration soon became convinced that it was utterly 
impossible to enforce the Stamp Act in America, and a bill was 
eventually introduced by the ministers for its repeal. Both Pitt 
and Burke, the one the setting, the other the rising, sun of British 
parliamentary eloquence of that day, exerted themselves in favor 
of the repeal. The ministers succeeded by a large majority ; 
and the king was constrained reluctantly, and with a very bad 
grace, to approve the bill, and give it his assent. The repeal of 
the Stamp Act was the principal measure accomplished by the 
Rockingham ministry. That upright and estimable nobleman 
received his dismissal from the cabinet immediately after the 
adjournment of Parliament. He was succeeded by the " Great 
Commoner " who had on several former occasions rescued Eng- 
land from disgrace and misfortune. Yet his return to power, 
and his elevation to the peerage at this crisis, destroyed in a 
great measure his popularity with the nation ; for Lord Chatham 
never became to them the marvellous hero and unrivalled favor- 
ite which William Pitt had so long and so deservedly been.* 

* See A History of the Bt. Hon. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, containing 
his Speeches in Parliament, &c, with an account of the Principal Events and 
Persons of his Time. By Bev. Francis Thackeray, A.M. 2 vols. 4to. London, 
1827. Gerard Hamilton, of "Single Speech" memory, expressed in one ad- 
mirable sentence the real character of Pitt as a statesman and a minister : " For 
those who want merely to keep a subordinate employment, Mr. Pitt is certainly 
the best minister in the world ; but for those who wish to have a share in 
the rule and government of the country, he is the worst." Correspondence of 
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. Edited by William Stanhope Taylor, Esq., and 
Capt. J. H. Pringle. 3 vols. 8vo. London, 1838. 



CHAPTEE IT. 



Lord Chatham's Inefficiency— His Illness — His Absurd Conduct— His Singular Seclu- 
sion—Inflexibility of George III. — Resignation of Lord Chatham— The Parliamen- 
tary Election of 176S — Renewal of the Contest with Wilkes — His Repeated Election 
to, and Expulsion from, Parliament — His Ultimate Defeat — Charter of tho British 
East India Company — The Letters of Junius — Intense Excitement produced by 
their Appearance. 



The nation was destined to be grievously disappointed in the re- 
sults produced by the last introduction of Lord Chatham to the 
highest and most responsible seat in the government. The sa- 
gacity, the consistency, and the resistless energy which had for- 
merly rendered him the salvation and glory of England, now 
appeared to have forsaken him. A new project was set on foot 
for the taxation of the American Colonies. Charles Townshend, 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, seems to have been one of the 
prime movers on this occasion ; for he boasted in the House of 
Commons " that he knew how to draw a revenue from the Col- 
onies -without giving them offence." He announced his- new 
project in the cabinet. Mr. Grenville and General Conway, the 
latter at that time Secretary of State, approved of it. It is 
probable that Lord Bute, still the favorite of the Princess Dow- 
ager, was the secret, yet most active, originator of this new plan 
of extortion. In March, 1767, its efficiency and expediency were 
discussed and sustained in the cabinet ; but the continued ab- 
sence of Lord Chatham from their deliberations, which occurred 
at this period, was the chief reason why the subject was even 
proposed and entertained. The bill in question imposed duties 
on glass, tea, paper, and painter's colors, imported from Great 



212 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

Britain into the colonies. This measure was supposed to be less 
obnoxious from the fact that port duties had before this period 
been exacted for the purpose of commercial regulation. This 
was particularly the case in reference to an act passed in the 
sixth year of the reign of George II. The same power which en- 
abled Parliament to impose duties in the one case, it was asserted, 
rendered the act valid in the other ; and no objection was appre- 
hended by the home government on the part of the distant col- 
onies. Had Lord Chatham been able or willing at this crisis, to 
take an active part in the measures of a government of which he 
was nominally the head, this absurd opinion would have been 
refuted, and the pernicious measures resulting from it would 
have been avoided. 

But the great minister was afflicted at this period by a singu- 
lar and a somewhat mysterious disease, which rendered him little 
more than a mere puppet ; and secluded him wholly from the 
nation, and even from his associates in the cabinet. A difference 
of opinion has always existed in reference to this subject. Some 
have asserted that the whole matter was a mere pretence and 
fraud, intended to excuse him from the labors and the responsi- 
bilities of the government at a dangerous and critical crisis ; 
that while he clung to the shadow and the glory of place and 
power, he meanly avoided its perils and its miseries. Others 
contended that at this time the great genius of Chatham be- 
came shrouded in a total eclipse ; that he became utterly de- 
ranged ; and that he secluded himself, or was secluded, to escape 
the shame and the disgrace which such a calamity entailed. 
Neither of these suppositions possessed the least shadow of 
truth or probability. 

The fact was, that the chronic gout with which Lord Chatham 
had been afflicted during the whole of his life, at this period as- 
sumed a wandering and ill-declared condition. It fell upon his 
nerves, and although it left him in the full possession of his men- 
tal powers, it rendered the exercise of them dangerous and per- 
nicious in the highest degree. The effect of this peculiar ner- 
vous state has been exhibited in the lives of many other distin- 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 213 

guished men of genius. Cowper's muse would only sing at 
stated intervals and under peculiar influences. Collins and 
Thompson also suffered under these inequalities of the intellec- 
tual faculties ; and the immortal strains of Milton never flowed be- 
tween the autumnal and vernal equinox ; but his mind became 
genial and creative only when the temperature of spring revived 
all nature, and made the groves and valleys musical with the 
songs of birds. Tims a temporary inaptitude fell at this period 
upon the mind of Chatham. Even the writing of an ordinary 
letter overpowered him. Lady Chatham has herself described 
his singular condition in a letter to one of his most intimate 
friends.* " The state of extreme weakness and illness in which 
my Lord finds himself, from the gout not being fixed, obliges 
him to beg leave of your Lordship to acknowledge by my hand, 
the honor of your much obliging letter." He continued in this 
state during the period of a year and a half. In October, 1768, 
he had an interview with the Duke of Grafton, after frequent and 
earnest solicitation. Of that interview, and the impression pro- 
duced by it, the Duke said : " I must confess, from the length 
of my Lord's illness, and the manner in which the gout is dis- 
persed upon his habit, that I believe there is but small prospect 
of his ever being able to enter much into business again. f " The 
ministry, though deprived of the benefit of his talents, still pos- 
sessed and valued the influence of his name ; but he excluded 
them totally from personal interviews. Even the ordinary cor- 
respondence of the Earl devolved upon Lady Chatham. Both the 
king and the cabinet regarded the event of his resignation as a 
great calamity ; and hence, though he was a mere cipher in the 
government, he was nominally at its head. It is curious to ob- 
serve how earnestly the ministers implored him to grant one of 
them an interview ; and the piteous manner in which he declined. 
The Duke of Grafton declared in one of his letters : " If I could 
be allowed but a few minutes to wait on you, it would give me 

* To Lord Camden, 23d of January, 1768. Correspondence of William Pitt. 
Edited by Taylor and Pringle. London, 1838. Vol. iii., p. 817. 
t Correspondence of Lord Chatham, Vol. iii., p. 337. 



214 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

great, relief; for the moment is too critical for your Lordship's 
advice and direction not to be necessary." The enfeebled statesman 
replied by the hand of his wife : " Lord Chatham, still unable to 
write, begs leave to assure the Duke of Grafton of his best re- 
spects, and, at the same time, to lament that the continuation of 
his illness reduces him to the painful necessity of most earnest- 
ly entreating his grace to pardon him, if he begs to be allowed 
to decline the honor of the visit which the Duke has so kindly 
proposed." On a subsequent occasion Chatham responded to a 
similar proposition : " He implores the Duke of Grafton to be 
persuaded that nothing less than impossibility prevents him from 
seeing him. The first moment health and strength return, Lord 
Chatham will humbly request permission to renew, at his majes- 
ty's feet, all the sentiments of duty and most devoted attach- 
ment." 

At length the cabinet became desperate in their inability to 
extricate themselves from their difficulties, and the king was in- 
duced to address an autograph letter to his favorite minister on 
the state of affairs. The royal writer said : " No one has more 
cautiously avoided writing to you than myself, during your late 
indisposition ; but the moment is so extremely critical, that I 
cannot possibly delay it any longer. By the letter you received 
yesterday from the Duke of Grafton, you must perceive the 
anxiety he and the President at present labor under. The Chan- 
cellor is very much in the same situation. This is equally owing 
to the majority in the House of Lords, amounting on the Friday 
only to six and on the Tuesday to three, though I made two of 
my brothers vote on both those days ; and to the great cold- 
ness shown those three ministers by Lord Shelburne, whom they 
as well as myself, imagine to be rather a secret enemy ; the 
avowed enmity of Mr. Townshend ; and the resolution of Lieuten- 
ant-general Conway to retire, though without any view of enter- 
ing into faction. 

" My firmness is not dismayed by these unpleasant appear- 
ances : for, from the hour you entered into office, I have uniformly 
relied on your firmness to act in defiance to that hydra faction 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 215 

which has never appeared to the height it now does, till within 
these few weeks. Though your relations, the Bedfords and the 
Kockinghams are joined, with intention to storm my closet, yet 
if I was mean enough to submit, they own they would not join 
in forming an administration ; therefore nothing but confusion 
could be obtained. 

" I am strongly of opinion with the answer you sent the 
Duke of Grafton ; but, by a note I have received from him, I 
fear I cannot keep him above a day, unless you would see him 
and give him encouragement. Your duty and affection for my 
person, your own honor, call on you to make an effort : five 
minutes' conversation with you would raise his spirits, for his 
heart is good ; mine, I thank Heaven, wants no rousing : my 
love to my country, as well as what I owe to my own character 
and to my family, prompt me not to yield to faction. Be firm, 
and you will find me amply ready to take as active a part as the 
hour seems to require. Though none of my ministers stand by 
me, I cannot truckle." * 

In response to this urgent letter from the royal hand the 
afflicted statesman answered : " Lord Chatham most humbly 
begs leave to lay himself with all duty at the king's feet, and 
fearing, lest he may not have rightly apprehended his Majesty's 
most gracious commands, humbly entreats his Majesty to permit 
him to say, that seeing the Duke of Grafton to-morrow morning 
he understands it not to be his Majesty's pleasure that he should 
attend his Majesty any part of the day to-morrow. He is un- 
happily obliged to confess that the honor and weight of such an 
audience would have been more than he could sustain in his 
present extreme weakness of nerves and spirit." 

One would naturally suppose that such a letter would have 
excited the royal pity, and that a minister so desperately afflicted 

* This remarkable letter is inserted at length, because it throws a clear and 
convincing light not only upon the estimate in which the King held the charac- 
ter and services of Chatham ; but also because it reveals the state of the King's 
mind, the force of faction, the dismay of the ministers, the dissensions of the 
cabinet, and the miseries which often attend the possession of the most coveted 
boons of high rank, extensive authority, and illustrious name. 



216 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

and enervated would have been permitted at last to rest in 
peace. But such was not the fact. Several days afterward, the 
difficulties of the cabinet having increased, the king again applied 
to Chatham, to lay before him a plan by which the government 
might be extricated from its embarrassments. The persecuted 
and unhappy statesman answered by the hand of his wife : 
" Lord Chatham, totally incapable, from an increase of illness, 
to use his pen, most humbly begs to lay himself with all duty 
and submission at the king's feet, and with unspeakable affection 
again to represent to his Majesty the most unhappy and utter 
disability which his present state of health as yet continues to 
lay him under ; and once more most humbly to implore compassion 
and pardon from his Majesty for the cruel situation which still 
deprives him of the possibility of activity, and of proving to his 
Majesty the truth of an unfeigned zeal, in the present moment 
rendered useless." This pitiful reply, the spirit of which is so 
utterly craven, and unworthy of any being possessing the human 
form, especially of one having the mental superiority of Lord 
Chatham, seems at last to have melted the heart, and excited the 
sympathy, of the obdurate and headstrong monarch ; who ended his 
persecutions by prescribing a physician for his afflicted minister. 

It is evident, that during this mysterious interval Chatham 
was not insane, as was generally supposed, for several reasons. 
His colleagues addressed him letters, as to a perfectly sane per- 
son. The answers which they received in reply were evidently 
the production of a person in the full possession of his faculties. 
When his illness was greatest he wrote a perfectly rational letter 
to George III. with his own hand. At the same period he twice 
held personal interviews with one of his colleagues in the min- 
istry, in which he displayed no evidence whatever of mental de- 
rangement. 

At length, after nearly two years spent in seclusion and sick- 
ness, the health of the prime minister still remained feeble, and 
his capacity for mental effort utterly suspended. In October, 
1768, he delivered himself from the anomalous nature of his po- 
sition by resigning. The death of Mr. Townshend had taken 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 217 

place some time previous to this event ; and Lord North became 
Chancellor of the Exchequer in his stead. The Duke of Grafton 
also resigned at a later date, when Lord North was transferred 
to the post of First Lord of the Treasury. Thomas Townshend 
succeeded Lord North as Paymaster of the Forces. Thus did 
the Great Commoner pass away for the last time from that high 
place which he had once occupied with such unrivalled splendor 
and celebrity. He survived his last resignation of office for ten 
years. His release from its burdens and responsibilities seemed 
to operate as a charm upon his health. He soon began to re- 
cover ; and in a few months we again behold him in the House 
of Peers, displaying a degree of eloquence against the measures 
of a short-sighted and pernicious ministry which, though only the 
shadow of what his oratorical exhibitions once had been, still 
surpassed and overwhelmed all his rivals.* 

* Lord Chatham was the favorite of his countrymen in his own day, and the 
admiration of succeeding generations ; but it is curious to observe the strictures 
passed upon his character by that sarcastic and sagacious critic, Horace Wal- 
pole, who, in his celebrated " Memoirs of the Reign of George III.," has thus 
expressed himself in reference to different periods of the life of this hero : 

" Lord Chatham had already commenced that extraordinary scene of seclu- 
sion of himself which he afterwards carried to an excess that passed, and no 
wonder, for a long access of frenzy." P. 342. 

" The mad situation to which Lord Chatham had reduced himself." lb., 
p. 402. 

" The pride and folly of Lord Chatham." lb., p. 402. 

" The wildness of Lord Chatham baffled all policy." lb., p. 416. 
• " The madness or mad conduct of Lord Chatham." Vol. iii., p. 67. 

" Lord Chatham's wild actions of passion and scorn." lb., p. 435. 

" The Chancellor Camden had given many hints of his friend's frenzy." Vol. 
iii., p. 251. 

" As if there were dignity in folly, and magic in perverseness — as if the way 
to govern mankind was to insult their understandings — the conduct of Lord 
Chatham was the very reverse of common sense, and made up of such undis- 
Bembled scorn of all the world, that his friends could not palliate it, nor his ene- 
mies be blamed for resolving it into madness. He was scarce lame, and even 
paraded through the town in a morning to take the air ; yet he neither went to 
the king, nor suffered any of the ministers [his colleagues] to come to him." Vol. 
ii., p. 426. 

" Lord Chatham might have given firmness and almost tranquillity to the 
country ; might have gone farther towards recruiting our finances than any rea- 

10 



218 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

The general election which took place in 1768 to supply 
vacancies in parliament, was characterized by unusual disorder. 
The current price of boroughs was greatly increased by the pro- 
fuse expenditure of money exhibited by the ambitious and 
wealthy nabobs who, having returned from Hindostan with vast 
fortunes, desired to obtain seats and influence in the British 
Legislature. So desperate were the contests for seats that 
many opulent candidates were utterly ruined. The abuses 
which prevailed were carried to their utmost extremes in the 
county of Middlesex ; and from that place the notorious Wilkes 
was returned, after a contest of unequalled violence and bitter- 
ness. This demagogue had been outlawed for his contempt of 
court, in not appearing to answer a previous charge in West- 
minster Hall. He had remained on the continent during several 
years. At length he returned to London, immediately before 
the election, and appearing publicly at Guildhall, had first offered 
himself as the popular candidate to the inhabitants of the metrop- 
olis. He proclaimed himself the champion of free speech, of a 
free press, and of the unrestricted rights of the people. In Lon- 
don, however, he was ignominiously defeated. He was not dis- 
couraged by this untoward event ; but immediately offered him- 
self to the electors of Middlesex. Here he obtained a decisive 
maj ority, and the exultation of the populace was unbounded. They 
paraded the streets, illuminated their houses, and insulted the 
chief magistrate Harley, in consequence of his known repugnance 
to the demagogue. 

This triumph was at the same time accompanied by a morti- 
fying defeat. On the suits which had been previously instituted 
against Wilkes he was condemned to suffer two years imprison- 
ment, to pay a fine of a thousand pounds, and give security for 
his good behavior for seven years. The populace rescued 

sonable man could have expected ; but, alas ! his talents were not adequate to 
that task. The multiplication-table did not admit of being treated as epic, and 
Lord Chatham had but that one style. Whether really out of 7iis senses, or con- 
scious how much the mountebaiik had concurred to make the great man, he 
plunged deeper and deeper into retreat, and left the nation a prey to faction and 
to insufficient persons that he had chosen for his coadjutors." Vol. ii., p. 433. 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIED. 219 

him from the hands of the officers, as they were conducting 
him to prison, and then carried him in triumph through the city. 
Wilkes afterward surrendered himself to the officers of the 
crown, and went to prison. When Parliament subsequently 
met, he was expelled from the House by an overwhelming major- 
ity ; although the demagogue mustered not a few ardent and able 
advocates among the members. A new writ was issued for the 
holding of another election in Middlesex, and Wilkes w r as again 
returned by a still greater majority. The house was now placed 
in a critical dilemma. If they persisted in their course they 
might endanger the tranquillity of the nation, and the security 
of the government. If they receded, they would incur universal 
contempt. After considerable deliberation, the House resolved 
that " Mr. Wilkes having been once expelled, was incapable of 
sitting in the same Parliament, and that the election was there- 
fore void." A third writ was immediately issued, and Wilkes was 
a third time chosen. In these proceedings we have a remarkable 
and amusing illustration of English obstinacy and determination. 
In this dilemma Colonel Luttrell, a member of the House, resign- 
ed his seat, and offered himself as a rival candidate to the elec- 
tors of Middlesex, being assured by those who controlled the 
action of the House that, in any case, he would be received by 
Parliament as the member elect. A fourth election took place ; 
Wilkes was again chosen by a vast majority ; and he was re- 
turned by the sheriffs : but Luttrell having presented a petition 
for the seat to the House, he was declared, after a long and fu- 
rious debate, to have been duly elected.* 

The whole nation was now convulsed with mingled rage and 
consternation. Never before during the long series of genera- 
tions in which the British Constitution had existed and flour- 
ished, had such a perilous crisis occurred. The occasion was 
regarded by reflecting persons of all classes as decisive of the 
future fate of the government. The Commons had thus taken 

* See " Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period till 1803," 
Vol. xvi., p. 262. The votes cast for Wilkes on the fourth election were 1,243 ; 
those given for Luttrell were 296. 



220 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

high ground, and had consistently adhered to it throughout. 
The electors of Middlesex had acted with equal resolution and 
consistency. Other obnoxious persons had been formerly ex- 
pelled from the house by its own action. Robert Walpole had 
incurred this fate in 1711, Sergeant Comyns in 1715, and Bed- 
ford in 1727. But in all these instances the decision of the Com- 
mons had been in accordance with the popular will, and no pop- 
ular disturbance had been apprehended. The present instance 
was different in its nature ; and great fears were apprehended that 
the ligatures which bound the nation together, would be severed 
by the violent struggles through which it might at this crisis be 
compelled to pass. Nevertheless, the firm position taken by the 
house eventually prevailed over popular opposition and prevalent 
fears ; and "Wilkes having been finally expelled, ventured no 
longer to intrude into the legislature. His supporters subsided 
for a time into quiet submission to the will of the Parliament 
which had been so plainly and so singularly expressed on this 
memorable occasion. 

In 1769 two acts of importance were passed by the legisla- 
ture. The charter of the East India Company was renewed for 
five years, and the iniquitous schemes of this gigantic monopoly 
were again commended and approved by the representatives of 
the nation. During the same session the private debts of 
George III. were liquidated by a vote of the house from the re- 
sources of the national treasury, to the amount of five hundred 
thousand pounds. This remarkable act of liberality was per- 
formed, even without the formality of a scrutiny having been 
made into the specific details which swelled the sum total to so 
enormous an amount. 

The restless spirit of the arch-agitator Wilkes did not per- 
mit the public mind to repose for any length of time, in refer 
ence to his claims as member elect to Parliament for Middle- 
sex ; and this subject was again dragged before the public mind 
by the able and crushing strictures of a powerful but unknown 
advocate of the interests of the popular favorite. The first letter 
of the terrible Junius bears date January 21st, 1769. The re- 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 221 

maskable ability displayed in the compositions which appeared 
in the Public Advertiser under this name, immediately attracted 
universal attention. Each number which appeared carried terror 
into the ranks of the ministry and their supporters ; and the ap- 
pearance of a letter of Junius was heralded in ■whispers of appre- 
hensive agony from mouth to mouth, as if some insidious, un- 
known, but deadly foe had invaded their most secure hiding- 
places, threatening them with destruction. In April, 17G9, 
Junius addressed the Duke of Grafton in reference to the claims 
of Wilkes, and aroused anew the popular enthusiasm on the sub- 
ject. The spirit of the people was again aroused. The free- 
holders of the county of Middlesex presented a petition to the 
king, in which they set forth their grievances in reference to the 
election and the expulsion of Wilkes. The city of London pre- 
sented a petition to the monarch to the same effect, and demand- 
ing an immediate dissolution of Parliament. Similar memorials 
came from fifteen counties of England ; setting forth the injustice 
which had been done to popular rights in the person of Wilkes, 
and demanding that a proper indemnification should be made 
therefor. 

But these wise and patriotic appeals remained unheard. The 
Parliament indicated their resolution to persist in their course 
against Wilkes and his advocates, by commanding the Attorney- 
General to file a bill in the Court of King's Bench against Wood- 
fall, the publisher of the Public Advertiser, for uttering a false and 
malicious libel. The case was tried before the learned and famous 
Lord Mansfield, and the verdict of the jury was Guilty of printing 
and publishing only ; which was in effect an acquittal of the de- 
fendant. Lord Chatham, who had by this time, after a seclusion 
of two years, returned to his place in Parliament, endeavored to 
allay the existing uneasiness of the public mind, by introducing 
a motion to the effect that the house would take into considera- 
tion the causes of the discontents which prevailed in the nation, 
and especially the late proceedings in the Commons against Mr. 
Wilkes. But his motion was opposed by Lord Mansfield, and 
eventually lost. The same measure was subsequently proposed 



222 HISTOKY OF THE FOTTK GEOKGES. 

by the Marquis of Rockingham, on the 20th of January, 1770 ; 
and the measure, in consequence of the critical state of the public 
mind, was sustained by a majority of the members. The investi- 
gation of the universal discontents which agitated the nation Avas 
appointed to commence on the second day of the ensuing Feb- 
ruary ; at which time it was determined that the house should, re- 
solve itself into a committee of inquiry. But before the arrival of 
that momentous day, on the preceding 28th of January, the 
prime minister, the Duke of Grafton, unexpectedly and suddenly 
resigned.* This act took the nation by surprise ; but its motive 
was readily divined. The crafty peer endeavored thereby to 
shield himself from the overwhelming flood of obloquy which 
would follow his retention of an office, the possession of which 
on his part, had led to so many and such great popular evils. 
The vacant office was immediately filled by Lord North ; and 
thus in February, 1770, one of the most memorable administra- 
tions presented by the whole range of English history began. 

* Horace Walpole, in his " Memoirs of the Reign of George III." thus ex- 
plains the causes of the resignation of the Duke of Grafton at this crisis. His 
opinions must always be taken cum grano salis. 

"His fall was universally ascribed to his pusillanimity ; but whether be- 
trayed by his fears or his friends, he had certainly been the chief author of his 
own disgrace. His Jiaughtiness, indolence, reserve, and improvidence, had con- 
jured up the storm, but his olstinacy and feebleness — always relaying each other 
and always mal-d-propos — were the radical cause of all the numerous absurdities 
that discolored his conduct and exposed him to deserved re-proadies ; nor had he 
depth of understanding to counterbalance the defects of his temper. The details 
of his conduct were as weak and preposterous as the great lines of it." P. 70, 
vol. iv. 



CHAPTEK V. 



Lord North becomes Premier— Renewal of Wilkes's Case— The Stamp Act— Wilkes 
- elected an Alderman of London — His Contest with the Court — Growing Troubles 
with the American Colonies — Benjamin Franklin in England— First Convention 
of the American Congress — Petition presented to George III. by Wilkes as Mayor 
of London — Commencement of the Revolutionary War — Hostilities between Eng- 
land and France — Disturbances in Ireland — Death of Lord Chatham. 



Lord North, by his entrance into the British ministry, inherited 
a legacy of troubles. The nation was still divided in reference 
to the conflict between the Court and Wilkes, for such in reality 
was the nature of the dispute ; while the disaffection of the 
American Colonies remained undiminished. The friends of 
Wilkes moved in the House of Commons that " the house ought 
to judge of elections by the law of the land and by the former 
custom and practice of Parliament." This motion was intended 
to be followed by others setting forth that the former expulsion 
of Wilkes by the Commons was illegal and unjust. To avert 
the long and furious contest which would inevitably have ensued, 
Lord North adroitly amended this motion, which had been intro- 
duced by Mr. Dowdeswell, by adding, " that the judgment for- 
merly passed by the house in the case of Mr. Wilkes was agree- 
able to the law of the land, and in accordance with the usage of 
Parliament." This amendment was carried by two hundred and 
twenty -four votes against a hundred and eighty ; and thus for a 
short time the subject was laid over, but not finally settled or 
disposed of. In May, 1770, Lord Chatham, who, being out of 
the ministry, was necessarily in opposition, moved in the House 
of Peers a bill for reversing the judgment of expulsion passed by 



224: HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

the Commons in the case of Wilkes. But his proposition was 
lost by an overwhelming majority, after a protracted and animated 
debate. 

The attention of Parliament was for a time diverted from the 
case of Wilkes and its attendant difficulties, which seemed to 
have become perennial and endless, to those connected with the 
American Colonies. Lord North had readily discerned that the 
taxes which had been imposed in the colonies, upon the several 
objects of domestic use already enumerated, could never be col- 
lected, and might produce the most disastrous effects upon the 
unity and peace of the empire. He therefore moved the repeal 
of the obnoxious taxes on all the articles except tea. He sup- 
posed it to be proper to retain a duty on something, in order 
thereby to indicate the still existing supremacy of Britain. It 
was contended by the ministry and their supporters, that a total 
repeal could not be made until the dignity of the mother country 
had been vindicated by the submission of the colonies to her 
power, as indicated by their obedience in reference to this point. 
After a long discussion the minister carried his motion ; yet only 
by an insignificant majority of sixty-two. The tax on tea re- 
mained ; and that tax, though utterly insignificant in itself, after- 
ward became the cause of that revolutionary struggle which pro- 
duced the dismemberment of the British Empire, and gave 
existence to the greatest republic of modern times. 

During the session of Parliament of 1771, the disturbances 
made by the arch-demagogue Wilkes again assumed a formid- 
able importance. Two printers, named Thompson and Wheble, 
were arrested for reporting the speeches delivered in the Com- 
mons. A resolution was passed commanding them to appear 
and answer to this charge at the bar of the house. The printers 
paid no attention to this summons ; when the house resolved that 
they should be taken into custody by the sergeant-at-arms. The 
accused absconded, and a reward of fifty pounds was offered for 
their apprehension. Wheble was soon arrested, and taken be- 
fore Wilkes, who had been elected an alderman of London, for 
a hearing. As might have been anticipated, Wilkes discharged 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 225 

the defendant from custody, and further bound him over to pros- 
ecute the person who had apprehended him. The impudence 
of Wilkes even went much further. lie addressed a letter to 
the Earl of Halifax, then Secretary of State, in which he asserted 
that Wheble had been apprehended in violation of the rights of 
an Englishman, as well as of the chartered privileges of a citizen 
of London. Other printers had by this time been arrested for 
the same offence. They were taken before Crosby the Mayor, 
and Wilkes and Oliver, Aldermen of London, their cases heard, 
the warrant of arrest declared illegal, the prisoners discharged, 
and the messenger of the Commons committed to prison in de- 
fault of bail, for having made a false arrest. 

For this defiance of the authority of Parliament, the offend- 
ing magistrates were summoned to appear at the bar of the 
house. Crosby and Oliver obeyed, and after a hearing and ar- 
gument upon their conduct, they were committed prisoners to 
the Tower. Wilkes had refused to appear, except in his seat as 
member for the county of Middlesex. Crosby and Oliver availed 
themselves of the writ of Habeas Corpus, which they obtained 
from the Court of Common Pleas. But they we're remanded 
after a protracted hearing ; and they remained in custody till the 
end of the session ; when, by operation of law, they were dis- 
charged. The king was further provoked at this period, by 
another petition from the city of London, remonstrating against 
an invasion of their rights in some encroachments which were 
made upon the river Thames by public embankments. This 
memorial produced no effect except to irritate the sovereign, who 
had at this period to endure the additional misfortune of the 
death of his mother. Augusta, the Princess Dowager of Wales, 
died on the 8th of February, 1772, in the fifty-third year of her 
age. Important changes also took place in the cabinet. The 
Earl of Harcourt became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland ; Charles 
Jenkinson was appointed vice-treasurer of the same ; and Charles 
James Fox, a young statesman and orator, who afterward filled 
a place in English parliamentary history second only to that of 
10* 



226 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

the Earl of Chatham, appeared upon the scene, and took a seat 
at the board of the Treasury. 

During 1773 and several succeeding years, the peace of the 
nation was not disturbed at home by any events of importance ; 
nor was the life of George III. signalized by any domestic inci- 
dent of interest. The subject which occupied the chief attention 
of the king, the parliament, and the people, was the disaffection 
of the American Colonies. Lord North, who still retained the 
post of prime minister, was not unwilling to conciliate. His 
nature was neither unreasonable nor tyrannical ; nor was his in- 
tellect narrow and superficial. But events had rapidly transpired 
in the hostile and restive colonies, which soon placed all possi- 
bility of adjustment and reconciliation out of the question. The 
tea which had been consigned to the merchants of Boston, and 
upon which a light duty had been imposed, was violently de- 
stroyed. A spirit of rebellion against British rule, and a deter- 
mination to achieve a total independence and separation from the 
mother country, rapidly pervaded all the colonies. They seemed 
willing to pay millions for defence, but not a penny for tribute. 
The assembly' of the colony of Massachusetts addressed to the 
legislatures of the other colonies a circular letter, recommending 
them to discuss measures which might lead to resistance to the 
tyranny of Britain, and to freedom from her power. The same 
assembly voted an address to the king, in which they boldly de- 
manded that he should remove the governor and lieutenant-gov- 
ernor for ever from the province. Benjamin Franklin presented 
the petition in person to Lord Dartmouth, as the agent of the 
province of Massachusetts Bay in England. The ultimate result 
of this step was, that a bill was introduced into Parliament for 
the purpose of still further encroaching upon the liberties of that 
colony, which was regarded as the leader in all the rebellious 
movements which had as yet taken place in America. This bill 
provided that the nomination of councillors, judges, and magis- 
trates of all kinds should be vested in the British crown, and 
should be removable at pleasure. It was passed by an over- 
whelming majority in May, 1774. A military force was sent to 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIKD. N 227 

Boston at the same time, under the command of General Gage, 
to overawe the rebellious descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers 
into submission to the demands of their tyrants. He conveyed 
to that city the knowledge of the fact that, as a punishment for 
past contumacy, the port of Boston had been removed, by an act 
of Parliament, to the town of Salem. 

These outrages rapidly brought matters to a decisive and 
portentous crisis throughout the colonies. A Congress composed 
of delegates from all of them convened in September, 1774, at 
Philadelphia. That Congress passed resolutions sympathizing 
with the colony of Massachusetts in its conflict with the British 
monarch. It also prepared an address to the king, and a memo- 
rial to the British people, in both of which their alleged griev- 
ances were set forth in decisive language. The British monarch 
and people seemed to turn a deaf ear to these appeals. Petitions 
presented to Parliament by those subjects who were opposed to 
the policy of the court, were consigned to the Committee of 
Oblivion. The Parliament refused to hear evidence in reference 
to the allegations contained in the petition of Congress to the 
king. A bill introduced by Lord Chatham for the purpose of 
settling the troubles in the colonies was rejected by a large ma- 
jority. The colonies were at last declared to be in a state of 
open rebellion against the legitimate authority of their gracious 
sovereign* A petition which was presented to the king by 
Wilkes in person, who had been elected Lord Mayor of London, 
and then represented the corporation, expressing the abhorrence 
of the citizens of the capital of the measures of oppression which 
had been pursued by the government, to the injury of their fellow- 
subjects in the colonies, was spurned with contempt from the 
foot of the throne. The policy adopted by Lord North, and by 
the court and ministry under his guidance, was intended to up- 
hold the dignity and supremacy of Britain in America ; but the 
results actually produced were vastly different from that proposed. 
While the British government became more obstinate, the col- 
onists became more resolute and rebellious. Preparations for 
hostilities were then made throughout the length and breadth of 



228 HISTORY OF THE FOUR, GEORGES. 

the land. The first blood shed in the great cause of liberty in 
the New World, flowed at Lexington. Brother had armed 
against brother, and a conflict had at last begun which could end 
by no compromise ; but which must result either in total subjec- 
tion or in complete enfranchisement. The battle of Bunker Hill 
soon followed ; and the whole continent was thrown into a frenzy 
of patriotic ardor and excitement. George Washington — a hero 
whose glory now overshadows the civilized world with a radiance 
purer, nobler, and brighter, than that which has been achieved 
by any other mortal — having taken command of the continental 
army, drove Lord Howe from the heights of Boston, and re- 
leased that capital from its perilous position. On the 4th of 
July, 1776, the colonies proclaimed by their Congress assembled 
at Philadelphia, their Declaration of Independence ; and then en- 
sued all the thrilling and memorable incidents of a seven years' 
struggle for deliverance from the power of a detested tyrant. 
General Howe obtained a victory on Long Island. Washington 
changed the tide of battle at Trenton. And while the respective 
combatants fought throughout the length and breadth of the 
thirteen colonies with variable success, the determination of the 
king and his ministers remained unmoved by calamities and de- 
feats, by popular threatenings, and by the opposition of enlight- 
ened patriots in Parliament. In vain did the great Chatham 
exert his waning powers to their utmost in opposition to the 
war. In vain, with a degree of pathos and eloquence which in 
one so aged and feeble has never been equalled, did he condemn 
not only the principles for which the war was waged, but also 
the means which were employed to carry it on. In vain did he 
appeal to the right reverend prelates who sat near him in the 
hall which witnessed his final efforts, by every consideration of 
religion and humanity, to oppose some of the measures thus em- 
ployed. In vain did he invoke the spirit and humanity of his 
countrymen, appeal to their wisdom and prudence, and urge 
every consideration which should influence sagacious, profound, 
and liberal statesmen, in opposition to that unjust and tyrannical 
crusade against the most sacred rights of man. And it was in 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 229 

vain that the greatest of British statesmen perished at last, in the 
midst of his exertions in support of a bill which proposed, in the 
British Parliament, the immediate and complete recognition of 
the independence of the American colonies.* 

While these and other disasters were occurring to the British 
arms and supremacy in America, defeat followed defeat in other 
portions of the world. The English flag was dishonored by Ad- 
miral Keppel and Sir Hugh Pelissier, in their conflicts with the 
French, who had become the allies of the rebellious colonies. 
St. Vincent and Grenada were captured by the fleets of that 
power. The combined armaments of France and Spain boldly 
entered the British channel, and haughtily defied the power of 
the mistress of the seas. The adjacent kingdom of Ireland was 
disturbed by public discontents, and in the Irish Parliament, an 
address was voted to the king demanding the obnoxious boon of 
free trade, as the only means of saving the nation from impend- 
ing ruin. Thus on every hand was the mind of George III. 
harassed by the misfortunes which attended his administration 
of affairs in almost every portion of his dominions. His inten- 
tions in most cases were doubtless good, but his policy was 
short-sighted and imbecile in the extreme; nor is it singular 
that this long and astonishing series of adverse events should 
have gradually enfeebled, and should eventually have overthrown, 
a mind whose powers were never great, and whose obstinacy in 
adhering to his once-formed purposes, was its most prominent 
and most pernicious attribute. 

* Lord Chatham expired on the 11th of May, 1778, in the seventieth year of 
his age, at his favorite villa of Hayes, in Kent. The memorable scene connected 
with his last appearance in the House of Lords has been frequently described, 
and is familiarly known. 



CHAPTEE VI. 



Domestic Life of George III. — His Public and Private Cares — Repeal of the Laws 
against Boman Catholics — First Appearance of the second William Pitt in Par- 
liament — Affairs of the British East India Company — The Eise and Progress of that 
vast Empire — Outrages and Tyranny which disgraced its history — Administration 
of Warren Hastings — Incidents of the War in America — Second Administration of 
Lord Bockingham — Proposals of Peace with the Colonies in America — Provisional 
Articles — Final Adjustment of the Treaty. 



The domestic life of George III. at this period presented but few 
incidents worthy of notice. There was a total absence in his 
case, of all those private scandals, personal quarrels, and court 
intrigues which, in the annals of the majority of princes, constitute 
no insignificant portion of their history. After the birth of the 
Prince of Wales, other children were successively added to the roy- 
al household. Augustus, Duke of Sussex, was born in 1763; Adol- 
phus, Duke of Cambridge, in 1774 ; Mary, Duchess of Glouces- 
ter, in 1776. The chief attention of the queen was employed in 
the government and education of her children ; and the king and 
queen both deserve praise for the share of domestic virtue which 
they possessed, and the example of private excellence which they 
exhibited both to their family and to the world. 

The greatest solicitude of George III. was devoted to the 
affairs of his government. The nation was in an agitated state. 
Paction raged at home, and hostilities prevailed abroad. The 
monarch regarded himself as responsible in a moral sense for the 
measures adopted by his government ; and hence the results of 
those measures, when pernicious or unfortunate, sorely wounded 
him. It was the long-continued state of mental excitement into 
which the untoward current of public affairs threw him, which 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 231 

finally produced the mental disease under which many years of 
his life were subsequently passed. 

In 1780 an effort was made by the Opposition in Parliament 
to repeal the laws against Roman Catholics. One hundred and 
twenty thousand persons signed a petition to that effect, which 
was presented by Sir George Gordon to the House of Commons. 
Cries of " No Popery" resounded through the streets of Lon- 
don. All the popish chapels in the city were demolished by the 
mob. Even the private residences of distinguished Catholics 
were assailed. The aspect of affairs became formidable, and it 
was at one time apprehended that the capital would become the 
prey of the flames. In this crisis the king displayed consider- 
able energy. He transmitted general orders to the military to 
fire on the rioters, and to punish their ringleaders with severity. 
Many hundreds were slain, and Sir George Gordon was arrest- 
ed for high treason. A very great number were imprisoned, 
and their trial was quickly commenced and concluded before 
Lord Loughborough, the Chief Justice. This energetic magis- 
trate punished the offenders with a degree of severity which had 
never been equalled in England since the days of the ignominious 
Jeffreys ; and soon all remains of popular turbulence and dis- 
order were obliterated. 

On the 1st of September, 1780, the fourteenth Parliament of 
Great Britain was dissolved by proclamation, and a new Par- 
liament convened on the 31st of October succeeding. It was at 
this period and during this session that the second William Pitt, 
second son of the great Earl of Chatham, made his first appear- 
ance in that house of Commons, of which he, like his father, be- 
came subsequently the most distinguished ornament. He was a 
person of extraordinary talents, and every way adapted to the 
achievement of an illustrious figure in the turbulent and perilous 
history of his times. He soon became the chief personage in the 
concluding portion of the reign of George III. 

Although the events of the American war still continued to 
occupy a considerable share of the attention of the king and na- 
tion, there was another portion of the globe which possessed at 



a 



232 HISTOKT OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

this period almost an equal interest in their estimation. During 
twenty years the affairs of the East India Company gradually in- 
creased in importance ; their value and profitableness were con- 
stantly augmented ; and the policy which was pursued by the 
Company became a matter of great and absorbing concern. The 
heroism of Lord Clive, then a youthful adventurer, had van- 
quished the numerous and tumultuous native armies of Bengal 
and the Carnatic ; and a territory more extensive and perhaps 
more opulent than the British Islands, was in a short time added 
to the possession of the British crown. After achieving victories, j 
and performing prodigies of valor, which have scarcely a parallel 
in history, Clive returned to England in 1760. Mr. Vansittart 
was appointed Governor-General of India in his stead. In 1764 
Vansittart returned to England, and Mr. Spencer occupied his 
place, until Lord Clive revisited the scene of his former glory, and 
again assumed the supreme command. On the second resigna- 
tion of Lord Clive, Mr. Veerlst, and after him, Mr. Cartier, be 
came in succession Governors. These were men of compara- 
tive insignificance, and added no lustre to British arms or diplo- ! 
macy during their administrations. But they were succeeded by 
Warren Hastings, one of the most extraordinary men who ever 
lived ; and whose bold and capacious mind ventured upon the 
execution of measures which exerted an indelible influence on the 
destinies of fifty millions of people. The chief aim of the policy 
pursued by Hastings during the many memorable years of his 
supremacy in India, was to extort from the inhabitants whom 
British arms had subjugated, the most incredible sums of money ; 
to grind the unfortunate population into the very dust ; to out- 
rage all their religious prejudices and convictions, if they inter- 
fered with his purpose ; and while he made himself popular with 
the Company, and its grasping servants and members of high 
and low degree, to become in substance the curse and scourge of 
the unhappy and imbecile myriads whom the fortunes of war had 
placed beneath the iron rod of his power. During his infamous 
administration, many native princes were deposed without the 
shadow of an excuse ; and the government of the Company was 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 233 

rected in their stead. Their revenues were afterward confis- 
ated ; and if the native princes were ever permitted to retain 
he shadow, without the substance, of their hereditary power, 
hey were compelled to pay enormous tributes ; and not a few 
sven of these crowned puppets were reduced, in successive years, 
rom opulence to beggary. There is nothing contained in the 
vhole range of history ancient or modern — not the triumphs of 
mperial Rome over her subjugated enemies, not the excesses 
f Spanish tyranny and cupidity upon the vanquished aborigines 
>f Mexico and Peru — which furnish any parallel in infamy to 
hat which was exhibited by the British East India Company, and 
heir favorite agents and emissaries, in their outrages upon India. 
the record of their deeds is a black and foul blot in English 
listory, which the lapse of ages cannot wipe away. That record 
lisplays a long catalogue of the most cruel, insatiable, and un- 
crupulous encroachments, which were unprincipled, unchristian, 
,nd barbarous beyond expression. The Company, authorized 
md supported by a portion of the nation, invaded the territories 
)f Bengal, the Carnatic, the Decan, and Oude, without the slight- 
est show of reason or justice ; and having conquered their in- 
labitants by the superiority of their arms and their tactics, they 
yrannized over their helpless and unresisting victims with a de- 
cree of ferocity and cruelty, at which Verres in Sicily or Pizarro 
n Peru would have blushed and shuddered. And the greatest, 
;he most insatiable, the most unscrupulous of all these civilized 
savages, was Warren Hastings.* 

Deeply interested as a large proportion of the leading men 
n England were in the vast remittances of money, and other 
mmense profits, which constantly accrued from the British pos- 
sessions in India, the abuses which had been perpetrated in that 
'ated land during many years under the guidance of Hastings, at 

1 See Memoirs of the Life of Warren Hastings, first Governor- General of 
Bengal. Compiled from Original Papers, by the Rev. G. li. Gleig, M. A. 3 
rols. 8vo. London, 1841. This work, which contains a satisfactory narrative 
)f the incidents of Hastings' life, should be read with caution, inasmuch as very 
onsiderable partiality pervades every portion of the work in favor of its cele- 
brated subject. 



K 



234 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

last became so intolerable, that they forced a solemn utteranc 
and the wails of afflicted millions reverberating round the glolpce.' 
were heard in mournful and impressive tones even in t 
native land of their tyrants. The public attention was arous 
on the subject. In 1781 a secret committee was appointed II |k 
Parliament to examine into the causes which led to the iniquirol: 
Mahratta war, and into that which had desolated the Carnat ■ 
In the session of 1782 Mr. Dundas, then Lord Advocate of So 
land, made a very able report, as chairman of that committee, | 
which the policy pursued by Hastings as Governor-General w 
scrutinized and condemned in the strongest terms ; and he i 
marked truly, that the Governor had no right whatever to ima; 
ine himself to be another Alexander or Aurengzebe, and to exter 
his empire by desperate military exploits, to the ruin of trad 
commerce, and the welfare of the people of India. A bill w; 
also introduced recalling Elijah Impey, the Chief Justice, and oi 
of the basest tools of Hastings, to take his trial in England fcl 
misdemeanors in office. On the 28th of May, 1782, the Con 
mons passed resolutions, severely condemning the whole systei- 
of Indian politics ; but the India Company protesting against th 
measure, and doubtless bribing a necessary portion of the men 
bers, succeeded in obtaining a reversal of the resolution. Bui 
the unparalleled success of the measures of Hastings, and thl 
abject submission of the inhabitants of India, which their despaf 
had compelled them to make, had rendered the Governor th. 
most unscrupulous of men ; and his policy at length became s< 
profound and unfathomable an abyss of mysterious and inexpli 
cable enigmas, that even the members of the council were terri 
fled at it, and negatived his most important measures. Wher 
Hastings discovered that his associates at the board, a majority 
of whom he had always been able previously to control, had be- 
come adverse and rebellious, he found himself compelled to re- 
sign. He then returned to England, in the possession of a 
colossal fortune wrung from the wreck and the sufferings of mil- 
lions, in a far distant and dusky clime, who had been made, by 
a mysterious and malignant decree of fate, to suffer and to perish 



iii 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 235 

^eneath the heavy scourge of his superior power and intelli- 
gence.* He returned indeed, but it was to meet the anxieties 
nd the indignities of a public prosecution by the Commons of 
rreat Britain, in accordance with the requisitions of the will of 
'he disgraced and incensed nation; the details of which exceed in 
ragical interest, in the splendors of forensic eloquence, in the 
importance of the questions involved, in the duration, the acri- 
nony, and the determination of the contest, any trial which ever 
Occurred in England. 

K Meanwhile the conflict was progressing in America between 
r, he English forces and the heroic defenders of liberty. Lord 
Cornwallis obtained a victory at Camden. Major Ferguson was 
'defeated at King's Mountain. Colonel Tarleton met with an 
Overwhelming defeat at the Cowpens. To reverse the picture, 
Oornwallis triumphed at Guilford. But all his achievements 

Jvere sullied by the capture of his whole armament, through the 
nasterly operations of Washington at Yorktown. The effect of 
hese misfortunes to the British arms was, to open the eyes of 
he British government to the utter impossibility of vanquishing 
three millions of people, zealously enlisted in the defence of the 
holy cause of freedom. In February, 1782, General Conway 
moved in the Commons that an address be sent to the kinsr. 



* If it be possible to entertain any doubt respecting the effects of the general 
policy adopted by the English Government in India, it must assuredly vanish 
when we read the opinion of Lord Cornwallis, the successor of Mr. Hastings, 
who, in his despatch of August 2, 1789, says : " Independent of all other con- 
siderations, I can assure you that it will be of the utmost importance for pro- 
moting the solid interests of the Company, that the principal landholders and 
traders in the interior parts of the country should be restored to such circum- 
stances as to enable them to support their families with decency. I am sorry to 
be obliged to say, that agriculture and internal commerce have for many years 
been gradually declining ; and that at present, excepting the class of Shroffs 
and Banians, who reside almost entirely in great towns, the inhabitants of these 
provinces were advancing hastily to a general state of poverty and wretchedness. 
In this description I must even include almost every Zemindar in the Company's 
territories." In his minute of council, dated September 18, 1789, his lordship 
asserts, and the assertion is enough to strike men with amazement and horror : 
" That one-third of the Company's territory is now a jungle inhabited by wild 
beasts." 



236 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

earnestly imploring him to listen to the prayer of his faithful i 
Commons, that the war with the American colonies might no j 
longer be pursued, and that their liberties might be acknowl- ] 
edged. This memorable motion was discussed at great length J 
and with much vehemence, and was at last lost by one vote only. 
Mr. Fox immediately gave notice that in a few days he would 
revive the question in another form. Accordingly, on the first 
of March, he introduced a motion to the effect that the king, in 
pursuance of the advice of the House of Commons, would take 
such measures without delay as should appear to him most con- 
ducive to the restoration of harmony between Great Britain and 
her revolted colonies. This proposition, after a full debate, was 
carried by a majority of nineteen. The Opposition were not 
satisfied with this triumph, but proceeded to move a vote of cen- 
sure upon the minister, according to whose policy the American 
war had been begun and conducted ; declaring that the chief cause 
of all the national misfortunes was the want of foresight and abil- 
ity in his majesty's cabinet. This motion was also carried 
and immediately after its passage, Lord North, the prime min- 
ister, of infamous and unfortunate memory, so far as the Amer- 
ican colonies were concerned, resigned his place. 

The Marquis of Rockingham now became the head of the 
cabinet for the second time. Instructions were sent to the com- 
manders of the British forces in America to inform the Conti- 
nental Congress, that the king and Parliament entertained pacific 
sentiments toward the colonies ; and were ready to treat with 
them on the basis of their future independence. To this con- 
clusion George III. had been brought with the greatest reluctance. 
He entertained the strongest aversion to the diminution of the 
territories over which he ruled ; and the great principle to which 
he most tenaciously but blindly adhered, throughout his whole 
previous administration, was, under all circumstances, to preserve 
the integrity of the British Empire. To lose so vast a propor- 
tion of the territories which belonged to the British crown, as 
were contained in the alienated colonies of America, was a mis- 
fortune which he deeply felt, and to which he was unconquerably 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 237 

iverse. And when, after a protracted and arduous war of seven 
ears, after the expenditure of hundreds of millions, after the loss 
)f thousands of lives, after innumerable cares, anxieties, and 
Rations, he was compelled to submit to their loss, it was to 
lim as a personal affliction ; and he felt it so deeply, that it event- 
lally led, by his own confession, to that imbecility of mind 
mder which he so long and so painfully suffered.* 

Provisional articles of peace with America were signed at 
Paris in November, 1782. Several months previous to this 
vent, the estimable Marquis of Rockingham expired, prema- 
turely, and in the midst of his honorable and useful career. His 
policy of peace was pursued by the Earl of Shelburne, his suc- 
essor ; but the promotion of this nobleman to the premiership 
led to fierce dissensions among the Whigs. Mr. Fox resigned 
as Keeper of the Seals, Lord Cavendish as Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer, the Duke of Portland as Governor of Ireland, and Ed- 
mund Burke as Paymaster of the Forces. In their places were 
substituted the Earl of Grantham, Win. Townshend, Sir George 
Young, Colonel Barre, and Earl Temple. But the most re- 
markable appointment of all was that of the youthful and 
gifted William Pitt, who, at the early age of twenty-three, be- 
came Chancellor of the Exchequer ; an office which had always 
been intrusted to men of great experience, protracted study, and 
mature years. Yet such was the extraordinary mantle of genius 
which had fallen upon this descendant of the Great Commoner, 
that he proved himself quite equal to the performance of the intri- 
cate duties of his post. 

During the continuance of this ministry in power, but few 
events of importance occurred. The entire and absolute inde- 
pendence of the American colonies was acknowledged, and all the 
dangers and expenses of that pernicious and unprincipled war 
were thus terminated. Minorca was conquered by the Span- 

* " I shall never lay my head on my last pillow in peace and quiet as long as 
I remember the loss of my American Colonies," was the remark of the unfor- 
tunate king to Lord Thurlow at a later period. Doran's Queens of England 
of the House of Hanover. Vol. ii., p. 118. 



238 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

iards ; the island of St. Christopher was taken by the French 
the Bahamas fell into the power of the Portuguese ; but to a 
leviate these misfortunes, Sir George Rodney gained a grea! 
naval victory over the French near the island of Dominique, an; 
a glorious and decisive defence was made by British arms of thi 
fortress of Gibraltar, against the combined fleets of France an 
Spain by which it was assailed. On the 21st of January, 178S 
preliminaries of peace were signed between England, France 
*and Spain. The terms of this settlement were ultimately ap| 
proved by the British Parliament ; and thus, after many year 
of uncertain and profitless conflict, both with powers in the Old 
World and in the New, the British monarch and the British Em 
pire might be said to have obtained the unfamiliar, but inesti 
mable blessings of peace. The hostilities which had been wagec 
between England and Holland, though not adjusted in form unti. 
a later date, may also be said at this period to have been sus- 
pended ; for henceforth a final and satisfactory arrangement was 
confidently anticipated. 



i 
jrei 

301 

I 



w. CHAPTER VII. 



iri 



Joint Ministry of Lord North and Mr. Fox— Renewed Insanity of George III.— Mr. 
Fox's East India Bill— Dismissal of the Coalition Cabinet— The younger Pitt be- 
comes Premier — The Quality and Effects of his Oratory — Splendid Era of British 
Eloquence — Mr. Pitt's East India Bill — Troubles in Ireland — Influence of Flood and 
Grattan — Pitt's Financial Measures — Affairs of India — Administration of Warren 
Hastings — His Life, Character, and Genius — His Trial before the House of Peers — 
Unrivalled Displays of Forensic Eloquence — Hastings' final Triumph and Ac- 
quittal. 

An event of sufficient importance to deserve a place in general his- 
tory occurred in England during the year 1783, at which period 
the coalition ministry ruled, headed by Lord North and Mr. 
Fox, as joint Secretaries of State, the first for the home, the lat- 
ter for the foreign, department. This administration was ex- 
ceedingly unpopular with the nation. Mr. Pitt introduced a bill 
intended to reform the system of parliamentary representation, 
abolishing a large number of the obnoxious and rotten boroughs ; 
but his efforts were rendered useless by the opposition of the 
ministry and court, which possessed a large majority in Par- 
liament. Mr. Fox was the author and mover of a bill for the 
purpose of investigating the affairs of the East India Company ; 
and of placing them in the hands of certain commissioners 
for the benefit of the proprietary and the public. He contended 
that the finances of the Company were in a state of total derange- 
ment, and that the officers were utterly incapable of governing 
the vast territories over which, by innumerable acts of violence, 
fraud and rapine, they had obtained supremacy. This bill, after 
a long and animated debate, passed the Commons, but was re- 
jected by the Upper House. 



240 HISTOEY OF THE FOER GEORGES. 

At this period the intellect of George III. began to give way > : 
beneath the power of the disease which eventually mastered it ; 
and he lost a large share of his usual intelligence and sagacity. 
A proof of this assertion is to be found in the fact that Lord I 
Temple was not only able to convince him that the India bill of 
Fox was injurious, pernicious, and wicked ; but also to excite the 
rage and indignation of the monarch in reference to it to an ex- 
travagant degree. He persuaded the king to set his hand to a 
declaration to the effect that whoever supported the India bill was 
not only not the king's friend, but his direct enemy ; and he au- 
thorized Lord Temple to put this sentiment in the strongest pos- 
sible language, and to make it public. Never had George III. 
perpetrated a more imbecile and silly act since his accession to 
the throne. 

Thee king's hostility to this bill, which had originated with a 
member of the cabinet, and was approved of by a majority of 
them, rendered it impossible that they could still act har- 
moniously together in the conduct of the government. At 
midnight, on the 18th of December, 1783, a message was sent 
from the exasperated monarch to the two Secretaries of State, de- 
manding the seals of their respective departments ; and early the 
next morning letters of dismission, signed by Earl Temple, were 
sent to all the other members of the cabinet. This decisive con- 
duct on the part of George III. clearly showed that, while he 
had lost a portion of his usual sagacity, he retained more than 
his ordinary share of stubbornness. 

The whole of the coalition cabinet being swept away, William 
Pitt was chosen to head the government. He was declared 
First Lord of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
The Marquis of Caermarthen and Thomas Townshend were nom- 
inated Secretaries of State. The profane, perfidious, and brutal 
Thurlow was reinstated as Lord Chancellor. The Duke of Rut- 
land became Privy Seal, and Lord Temple was appointed Gov- 
ernor of Ireland. This new ministry was received by the nation 
with transports of joy. The powerful charm possessed by the 
name of Pitt had not yet faded away ; and the people of Britain, 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 241 

30 long harassed by imbecile or by mercenary counsels, confi- 
dently hoped to find in the ability and disinterested patriotism 
Df the son of the Great Commoner, a wiser, safer, and better ad- 
ministration of the affairs of the Empire. 

The new minister was destined to pass through some of the 
most violent and desperate struggles which ever tasked the en- 
ergies of the chief of a government. The talents of the second 
Pitt were probably as great as those of the first ; though they 
were not as bold, as startling, and as resistless. His eloquence 
was more polished and courtly ; his orations were more elaborate 
and labored ; though the effects of their delivery were less instan- 
taneous and overwhelming. His speeches resembled the firm, 
steady, onward current of a great and affluent river, which car- 
ried a vast body of water at a steady pace toward the capacious 
bosom of an ocean ready to receive it. The efforts of his illus- 
trious father were very like the tumultuous and powerful plunge 
of a cataract, which, leaping forward with a rapid and convulsive 
ush, hurried every opponent down the abyss, and submerged 
him in ruin. The result of this signal difference between the two 
Pitts was, that the speeches of the son, inasmuch as they were 
characterized by a more elaborate and lengthy investigation of 
subjects, became on that very account more susceptible of reply. 
His opponents found something in them to combat ; and gifted 
men always met in his orations much that was worthy of their 
most concentrated and consummate efforts. Hence it was that 
the parliamentary battles which were fought during the adminis- 
tration of the younger Pitt, were the fiercest, longest, ablest, and 
most celebrated, which have occurred since the foundation of the 
British Constitution ; for this was the memorable era in which 
Fox, Burke, Sheridan, Dundas, and Windham flourished, and 
constituted a galaxy of high and varied genius such as no other 
ige or country ever produced at a single crisis. 

The chief subject which engaged the nation, and divided her 
representatives at this period, appertained to the East India 
Company. This colossal monopoly had become so notorious for 
its outrages upon the rights of the millions who were subject to 
11 



242 HISTORY OF THE FOUK GEORGES. 

its sway, that it was absolutely impossible for any minister, 
possessing either honesty, humanity, or patriotism, to ignore the' 
subject. One of the first measures of Mr. Pitt was his India 
Bill. The terms of this bill were acceptable to the king, buti 
they were rejected by the Commons. He subsequently intro- 
duced another, by which a Board of Control, composed of a 
number of commissioners of the rank of privy counsellors was 
established, who were to be appointed, and to be removable by the 
sovereign. Mr. Fox attacked this bill with prodigious eloquence 
and energy, and showed how it conferred a formidable and dan- 
gerous accession of power to the crown. But the splendor of! 
his declamation and the thunder of his invective were all thrown 
away ; and the minister finally carried his proposition in both 
houses with decisive majorities. It was on this occasion, in 
August, 1784, that Mr. Burke, for the first time, displayed the 
full extent of his abilities, and the unfathomable depth of the 
hostility which he entertained against "Warren Hastings, the late 
Governor-General of India ; which was destined afterward to find 
its culmination in the thrilling scenes and magnificent oratorical 
displays of a public trial, which is without a parallel in Eng- 
lish history, so fruitful of impeachments, persecutions, and ju-< 
dicial assassinations of celebrated statesmen. As soon as the 
vote was taken on this question, and decided in the minister's 
favor, Mr. Burke gave notice that he would bring forward a series 
of resolutions intended as the foundation of an inquiry into the 
conduct of Hastings as Governor-General of India. Mr. Pitt op- 
posed this measure by moving the order of the day, and for a 
time the scrutiny was postponed. 

In 1785, the kingdom of Ireland became the chief subject of 
the solicitude of the monarch and the nation. Three great evils 
produced by British tyranny then afflicted that people. One of 
these appertained to their restricted commerce. The second re- 
ferred to their unjust representation. The third resulted from 
their preposterous ecclesiastical relations. In regard to the first 
the Irish through their Parliament, which still existed, and stil 
possessed some trifling show of power and freedom, demanded 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 243 

the removal of those restrictions which so grievously hampered 
their commerce, and threw all the profits of their industry into 
the insatiable maw of England. They also demanded universal 
Suffrage, and the abolition of the law which restricted the right 
of voting to the Protestant freeholders, who were a small propor- 
tion of th<- inhabitants of the country. They also contended for 
tli" removal of the iniquitous and ruinous taxes or church rates, 
which the Roman Catholic population of Ireland were compelled 
to pay to the support of the clergy of the Established Church. 
Large popular meetings were held in reference to these reforms 
at Lisburne, at Dungannon, at Minister ; and finally a national 
convention was held at Dublin. The celebrated Irish orators 
Grattan and Elood flourished in the deliberations of this conven- 
tion, and acquired a name and a distinction which have not yet 
become dim by the lapse of time. They also figured as mem- 
bers of the Irish Parliament ; but their patriotic measures were 
generally resisted and voted down by the decisive majorities 
which the British ministry, and their agent the Viceroy, were 
able to command. But the public mind in Ireland was very 
restless. Fears were entertained of popular disturbances ; and 
several regiments which had been intended for India, Avere re- 
tained to strengthen the garrison of Dublin. The agitation of 
measures of reform was continued from time to time by Flood 
and Grattan in the Irish Parliament, but to no purpose ; inas- 
much as the usual majority of the ministry, in opposition to all 
proposed changes in the laws and administration of that unfortu- 
nate victim of British tyranny, Avas as a hundred and twelve votes 
to sixty. 

The energies of Mr. Pitt were now employed in the introduc- 
tion of many measures of minor importance to the national pros- 
perity, which need not here be enumerated. The national rev- 
enue at this period amounted to fifteen million pounds ; yet 
even this vast sum was insufficient to meet the current expenses 
of the government. He proposed to increase the revenue by the 
imposition of a tax on spirits, imported timber, and perfumery. 
It was also found necessary to pay the private debts of the mon- 



244 HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

arch, which at this period had, for the fifth time, become so great 
as to have been annoying and burdensome. But these and other 
minor matters of legislation were all thrown into obscurity, by 
the absorbing interest which the nation and monarch felt in a 
great judicial proceeding which, in April, 1786, was commenced 
by a coalition of the ablest men in the nation, against the most 
gifted, most unscrupulous, and the most guilty statesman who 
ever exercised a colossal and dangerous power, in any of the dis- 
tant appendages of the empire. Warren Hastings, the late Gov- 
ernor-General of Bengal, was impeached at the bar of the House 
of Commons of high crimes and misdemeanors in his office ; at 
the same time nine articles of accusation were exhi bited, which were 
eventually increased to the number of twenty-two. With Mr. 
Burke, himself a host, were associated in this memorable prose- 
cution, Mr. Sheridan, Charles James Fox, Mr. Windham, and 
Charles Grey : Mr. Pitt had refused to take any part in the pro- 
ceedings. 

Warren Hastings, whose life contained a degree of romance 
far stranger than the strangest of fictions, was born at Daylesford, 
in 1732. He was descended from a noble bnt impoverished fam- 
ily, who once flourished with considerable splendor upon an ances- 
tral domain, which had been held by them at that place since the 
thirteenth century ; but of which they had been deprived many 
years before the birth of their illustrious representative. The boy 
lived and suffered in poverty at Daylesford until his eighth year, 
when an uncle who possessed some means, sent him to school. 
In his tenth year the diminutive Warren was placed under the 
tuition of the celebrated Dr. Nichols at Westminster ; and so ex- 
traordinary was his progress in learning, that his generous rel- 
ative determined to support the talented and ambitious orphan 
at the university of Oxford. This desirable destiny was thwarted 
by the premature decease of his benefactor ; after which, Hastings 
fell into the hands of a friend of his family, who gladly released 
himself of the burden by obtaining for him a writership in the 
service of the East India Company. Young, friendless, and in- 
experienced, Hastings was thus thrown adrift upon the wide and 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 245 

stormy ocean of the world, to be wafted by its surging billows 
either to greatness and glory, or to a speedy and more probable 
'death. He arrived at Calcutta in 1750, in the seventeenth year 
of his age, and immediately devoted himself to the obscure and 
irksome duties of his station. 

Those were stirring and perilous times in India. The un- 
happy race who were trodden into the dust by British tyranny, 
had been for some time on the point of rising upon their oppres- 
sors, and wreaking a well-deserved vengeance for their sufferings. 
The reputation for talent and sagacity which Hastings rapidly 
gained, rendered him a useful agent in the negotiations which 
took place between the belligerents, after the horrible sufferings 
and incidents connected with the Black Hole. After the mem- 
orable battle of Plassey, in which the heroic Give rescued the 
British Empire in India from impending ruin by unexampled 
fortitude and skill, Hastings was appointed to reside at the court 
of the Nabob of Bengal, the obedient puppet of the triumphant 
Company, as their agent and representative. From this period 
his importance and influence continually increased. His great 
talents for intrigue and diplomacy, and his unscrupulous disre- 
gard of all the most sacred rights of others, soon elevated him to 
distinction among the many bold and able men who had resorted 
to India to advance their fortunes. Many years of toil, adventure, 
and success passed away ; when, in 1769, Hastings was appointed 
by the Company a member of the Supreme Council at Madras. 
He still continued his ambitious and crafty career until 1772 ; 
when he was promoted, in consequence of his frequent and signal 
displays of ability in matters of administration and government, 
to the highest office in the British East Indies, the Governor- 
Generalship of Bengal. Then followed many thrilling and mem- 
orable scenes in the life of this extraordinary man, which scarcely 
find a parallel in history. His abilities, which were of the high- 
est order, fitted him for the most desperate emergencies. His 
name became a sound of terror to fifty millions of people over 
whom he ruled. He obtained from them by rapine and plunder 
incalculable sums of money, to enrich the coffers of his employ- 



246 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

ers, his associates, and himself. Almost every crime known to 
the calendar — murder, forgery, extortion, robbery, falsehood, and 
bribery, the vilest expedients and the blackest villanies — all were 
put into frequent and repeated operation upon people of every 
class and every grade, from princes and high priests down to the 
lowest peasants and the most destitute orphans and widows, to 
swell the sum of his ungodly gains. These outrages were not ' 
unknown in England. After years of success, and the exercise 
of a dangerous and despotic power on the opposite side of the 
globe, Hastings, wearied with the toils and sated with the 
splendors of office, resigned his high place, and returned to his 
native country. Very soon after his arrival he was officially in- 
formed that his conduct would soon be brought to the test of a 
severe judicial scrutiny. He himself anticipated a very different 
reception. He expected that the potent influence of the Com- 
pany whose treasury he had filled with uncounted millions would 
secure him a peerage, that he would be decorated with stars and 
garters, and obtain a place in the cabinet of the monarch. These 
soaring hopes were all destined to be disappointed. He was 
solemnly impeached, after the necessary lapse of a few months, 
for high crimes and misdemeanors as Governor-General of Ben- 
gal. The chief mover in these bold proceedings was the eloquent 
Burke ; whose ardent imagination had been aroused, and whose 
sense of justice had been outraged, by the excesses and cruelties 
of this great criminal, which were a burning disgrace, as he 
thought, not only to himself, but also to England, and even to 
human nature. 

This celebrated trial commenced in February, 1786. The 
prosecution was conducted by Burke, Fox, Sheridan, and Grey, 
the most eloquent and able advocates then existing in the British 
Empire, and probably in the world. The proceedings were held 
in Westminster Hall, the most venerable and imposing edifice 
in England ; with which were associated the memories of many 
of the most important and thrilling events in English history. 
The audience who crowded that vast space, and gazed with silent 
wonder on the imposing scene, comprised whatever was noblest, 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 247 

richest, most beautiful, and most illustrious in the realm, in- 
cluding the heir apparent to the throne — the Prince of Wales. 
Die undaunted defendant in this great contest was one of the 
nost distinguished Englishmen of his time ; who, possessing 
;alents of the first order, had risen from poverty and obscurity 
to the government of a distant, powerful, and opulent empire, 
rt-hose laws, commerce, literature, religion, population, politi- 
cal and social condition, he had controlled, perverted, and 
cursed. The judges who were appointed to determine this im- 
portant cause were the Parliament of England, at that time the 
most able and influential deliberative assembly in the world. 
The trial may be said to have lasted eight years ; for that period 
of time elapsed between the opening of the case, and the final dis- 
charge of the defendant from bail. But the most interesting scenes 
connected with the trial occurred during the first few days of its 
progress ; when the speeches of Burke, Fox, and Sheridan were 
delivered, which were masterpieces of unrivalled excellence and 
splendor in the great art of forensic eloquence. It were vain to 
attempt any description, in the limited space we here possess, 
of those prodigious displays of genius, in which the Demosthenes, 
the iEschines, and the Cicero of modern times put forth their ut- 
most powers upon an occasion so worthy of their fullest exer- 
cise. The fortunes of the memorable conflict were varied. 
After the labors of the accusers and the advocates had been ex- 
hausted, Hastings was acquitted on the charge respecting the 
Rohilla war, and condemned on that in reference to the Rajah of 
Benares, as well as on the one referring to the Begum Princesses 
of Oude ; whom he had impoverished and despoiled with circum- 
stances of cruelty and horror, which, to this day, stir the indig- 
nant blood of the coldest and most indifferent observer. But as 
the progress of the trial became more protracted, and its ultimate 
issue seemed to be farther removed in the distant future, the pub- 
lic interest in the subject, which had for a time absorbed the 
whole attention of the nation, became much diminished ; until at 
last, when the peers voted upon the final question of condemna- 
tion or acquittal, their sentence was of so divided and equivocal 



248 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

a nature that it amounted in reality to an acquittal. In the end, 
Hastings was summoned to the bar of the House of Lords, in- 
formed that he had been absolved, and solemnly discharged.. 
Thus ended, after many years of struggle and forensic display, . 
after intense hatreds, animosities, and conflicts, after exposures 
which kindle the rage, extort tears from the eyes, and execrations 
from the lips of the wise, humane, and good of every land and 
creed — thus terminated the most important and remarkable trial, 
not even excepting that of a beheaded king, which ever occurred 
on English ground, or absorbed the attention of the British 
people. Hastings then retired to the secure enjoyment of the 
luxuries and splendors of his opulent privacy, which had been 
bought by the sufferings and ruin of millions of his fellow men ; 
and after surviving far beyond the usual extreme of human ex- 
istence, he quietly disappeared beneath the shadows of the tomb 
in his eighty-sixth year, at that same Daylesford which had wit- 
nessed the sufferings and privations of his hapless infancy.* 

* See Memoirs of the Life of Warren, Hastings, first Governor- General of 
Bengal. Compiled from Original Papers ly the Rev. G. R. Gleig, M.A. 3 
vols. London, 1841. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Attempt to assassinate the King— State of his Mind— Disgraceful Conduct of the Prince 
of Wales — The King's Insanity returns — The peculiarities of his Disease — His Suc- 
cessive Attacks — Regency Bill — Tho King's sudden Recovery —Important Events in 
France — Their Influence on the Popular Mind in England — Debates in Parliament 
in reference to these Events — Riots — Recall of the British Ambassador at Paris — 
Expulsion of the French Ambassador from England — Dangerous Excitement per- 
vading the Nation— The French Republic declares War against the King of England 
and the Dutch Stadtholder. 



The innumerable cares and vexations attendant upon the royal 
authority, together with the adverse events which had, from time 
to time, occurred in different portions of the empire, produced a 
most pernicious effect upon the intellect of George III. ; and in 
August, 1786, an incident happened which tended to increase his 
mental irritation. As the king was leaving the palace of St« 
James by the garden entrance, an insane woman named Mar- 
garet Nicholson approached him to present a paper. While he 
was receiving it, she stabbed him. The blow was not a very 
violent one, and the weapon did not penetrate much beyond his 
clothes. He immediately ordered the arrest of the lunatic, and 
hastened to convey to the queen at Windsor, the first intelligence 
of the danger to which he had been exposed. As he entered her 
apartment, he exclaimed with a joyous countenance : " Here I 
am, safe and well, though I have had a very narrow escape of 
being stabbed." The queen was at first very much terrified ; 
and while her husband proceeded to describe the circumstances 
of the event, she burst into tears. She readily appreciated the 
consequences which would have occurred to herself had the king 
been slain. Her power and influence, which were second only to 
11* 



250 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

that of her husband, would have been greatly diminished, and 
her position even rendered unpleasant. When the news of the 
attempted assassination became known throughout the capital 
and nation, it increased the king's popularity, as it called forth 
the popular sympathy. Addresses of congratulation were sent in 
from every quarter. The papers were filled with strongly loyal 
articles. Whenever the king appeared in public he was greeted 
by long and loud acclamations. The first drawing-room which 
was held at the palace subsequent to the event was more crowded 
with the rank and splendor of the realm, than any which had 
occurred during some years. 

These pleasing scenes of loyalty and congratulation were des- 
tined to be of short duration. Not many months afterward, the 
mind of the king again became seriously affected. One of the 
principal causes which led to his derangement in 1788 was the 
undutiful and disgraceful conduct of his eldest son, the Prince of 
Wales. As this young person approached manhood, he became 
the abandoned representative of every vice, and soon earned for 
himself the unenviable eminence of being the most contemptible 
of the human race. From this infamy neither his handsome 
person, his exalted birth, nor the advantages with which he had 
been favored, rescued him. At the period of which we now 
speak he had arrived at the twenty-sixth year of his age ; and to 
his other vices had added the disgrace of becoming the political 
opponent of the measures of his father's administration, while 
there was neither necessity nor propriety in his mingling in the 
affairs of government. As the history of this prince -will come 
under minute review in the closing portion of this volume, 
as George IV., we have abstained from narrating, in this connec- 
tion, the incidents of his youth, even in their influence upon the 
conduct and feelings of his royal father. It is necessary here 
only to observe that his rebellious and reckless conduct had a 
decisive effect in bringing about the intermediate and also the 
final derangement of George III. ; whose mind, irritated beyond 
endurance by a thousand public and domestic provocations, at 
last totally sank beneath the intolerable burden. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 251 

One peculiar symptom of the king's illness at this period was 
a total loss of sleep and great nervous irritation. He had re- 
course three times to " James's powders," without receiving any 
soothing influence. He talked continually, incoherently, and 
gave the clearest evidence that his reason was then dethroned. 
He was not yet removed from the palace of St. James, or con- 
fined in any way. He broke out into his first positive fit of de- 
lirium at dinner. The queen, who was present, burst into tears 
at the sad spectacle, so afflicting in itself, and so humiliating to 
human nature. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of York 
were at first frightened ; afterward they exhibited unequivocal 
signs of rejoicing at the near prospect which was thus presented 
of their acquisition of greater power and consequence in the 
state. 

The first night after the king's attack, he conducted Queen 
Charlotte to her bed-chamber, as was his uniform custom ; but 
there he repeated the request a hundred times, that she would 
not disturb him. He concluded by saying affectingly that he 
needed no physician, as the queen was his best doctor and his 
most faithful friend. He then became worse, and Dr. Warren 
was sent for. He refused to see him, and declared that he was 
only suffering from nervousness, and was otherwise perfectly 
well. But the physician was enabled by a stratagem to make 
some scrutiny into the conduct and appearance of the unhappy 
monarch ; and the conclusion to which he came was by no means 
encouraging. The Prince of Wales now became in reality com- 
mander of the palace of Windsor ; and soon every thing assumed 
the disorder and recklessness which marked his own character. 
Things were done by his orders respecting which an observant 
courtier justly remarked that, if the king recovered and was in- 
formed of them, they would be enough to drive him again into 
madness. 

The king's sons and their intimates sometimes amused them- 
selves by listening in an adjoining chamber, to the hoarse and 
pitiful ravings of the demented monarch. By some means he had 
his suspicions aroused on the subject, and he surprised and terri- 



252 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

fied them one night by suddenly appearing among them, and 
fiercely demanding what they were doing there. They en- 
deavored to evade the question, and to conciliate him, but they 
failed. He was not so much deranged as to be unable to pen- 
etrate the designs of his worthless offspring. Looking around, 
the king missed the presence of Prince Frederic, who had suc- 
ceeded in concealing himself. He then exclaimed : " Freddy 
is my friend ; yes he is my friend." Sir George Baker suc- 
ceeded after a time in inducing the monarch to return to his own 
chamber ; but there, the latter forced Sir George into a corner, 
and told him he was an old woman, who could not distinguish 
between a mere nervous malady and any other disease. 

The Prince of Wales determined, as the king gave no signs 
of recovery, to remove him from Windsor to the small palace 
at Kew. The king declared that he would never go thither. A 
stratagem was at last resorted to, to overcome his repugnance. 
He desired very much to be allowed to see his queen and daugh- 
ters, from whom, for some time, he had been separated. He was 
informed that they had all removed to Kew, and that if he 
wished to see them he must follow them. He agreed to do so. 
Having arrived at Kew he demanded of his attendants the fulfil- 
ment of their promise. They refused him ; and the unhappy 
king felt the blow so severely, that he spent the succeeding night 
in fearful paroxysms of impotent fury and rage. 

The malady of the king had commenced with a discharge of 
humor from the legs. By his imprudence and mental excite- 
ment, the affection had been driven from the limbs to the bowels 
and thence to the head. The physicians endeavored, yet for a 
long time in vain, to bring the humor back to its original loca- 
tion. Thus the year 1788 wore gloomily away. The Prince of 
Wales and his friends, of whom Charles James Fox was the 
ablest and boldest, made preparations to have a regency ap- 
pointed, and the heir apparent designated to fill the post. Their 
ambitious and premature plans were destined to be disappointed. 
On the first day of 1789, the unfortunate monarch was heard in 
his chamber praying loudly and fervently for his own recovery. 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 253 

The succeeding third of February had been appointed for the 
purpose of introducing the proposed Regency Bill, in favor of the 
Prince of Wales, into Parliament. During this apparent inter- 
regnum William Pitt still guided the helm of state with an arm 
so vigorous and steady, that the empire suffered no injury from 
the incapacity of the sovereign. Meanwhile the latter gradually 
began to recover, to the great joy of the queen, and the friends 
of the monarch, and to the intense mortification of the Prince of 
Wales, and his unprincipled confederates. Had the Prince at- 
tained the regency at this period, he would have instantly 
expelled the Pitt ministry, abandoned the whole line of policy 
which they had pursued both as to foreign and domestic affairs, 
and would have elevated Fox and the ultra- Whig states- 
men to power. On the 10th of March, the Lord Chancellor in- 
formed the public that the king had perfectly recovered, and that 
he had ordered a commission to be issued for holding Parliament 
in the usual manner. The proceeding put an end to the dis- 
cussion of the iniquitous Regency Bill which had been com- 
menced. The Prince of Wales was greatly disappointed ; but 
the rejoicing of the nation was universal. The restored monarch 
expressed his determination to make a public expression of 
thanks to the Supreme Being for the return of his physical and 
mental health. The cathedral of St. Paul was prepared for that 
purpose, and on the 25th of June, 1789, one of the most impres- 
sive scenes occurred within that stately fane, upon which the eye 
of man had ever gazed. As the king proceeded from the palace 
to the temple, he was greeted by the hearty cheers of an im- 
mense multitude. He was accompanied by his devoted queen, 
who shared with him the solemn pleasure of the occasion. As 
the royal pair entered the cathedral arm in arm, the first effect 
produced by the preparations which had been made within it 
was sublime. During the solemn religious service which en- 
sued, in which the vast assemblage seemed to join, and while the 
sublime melody of the organ reverberated beneath the far ascend- 
ing vault of the dome, the devout and grateful emotions of the 
monarch could not be concealed, and were edifying to every be- 



254: HISTOKY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

holder. All were pleased and gratified except the selfish and 
perfidious prince from whose unprincipled grasp the royal scep- 
tre had so suddenly been wrested. • 

Very soon after his recovery, the king remarked to the Chan- 
cellor, Lord Thurlow, that what had already occurred might 
happen again ; and he desired some immediate and permanent 
provision to be made for such a regency as would settle the gov- 
ernment upon a desirable basis, in case he was again rendered 
unfit to exercise the royal functions. Mr. Pitt and the other 
members of the cabinet readily admitted the expediency of the 
measure ; but they were divided as to the minor details. It was 
not until a later period, when the insanity of George III. became 
hopeless, and the regency became a matter of immediate and ab- 
solute necessity, that the full establishment and limitation of its 
powers and prerogatives were decided upon by Parliament. 

During 1789 tranquillity prevailed both at home and with 
foreign nations. The trial of Warren Hastings still continued 
to attract a large share of public attention, but some years were 
still destined to elapse before its conclusion. Mr. Addington 
was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons, upon the promo- 
tion of Mr. Grenville to the office of Secretary of State. The 
revenues of the year were insufficient to meet the current ex- 
penses of the government, and Mr. Pitt was compelled to pro- 
pose a loan of a million pounds. Yet notwithstanding this 
incident, the security and prosperity of the nation were such as 
to give general confidence and joy. The chief source of appre- 
hension arose from the events which were transpiring at this pe- 
riod in France. That mighty revolution which was destined to 
desolate the fairest kingdom on the continent of Europe, and 
render it a howling wilderness, had broken forth. Political tem- 
pests, such as had never been equalled in fury since the founda- 
tion of governments, swept over the land, blasting whatever was 
fairest and noblest among the monuments of past ages, and filling 
Prance with blood and tears. The States-General convened at 
Versailles, at the command of Louis XVI., who sincerely desired 
to remedy the existing evils, by the cooperation of the represent- 



LIFE AXD REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 255 

atives of the nation. Soon this assembly of demagogues and 
assassins declared their entire independence of the king and court, 
asserted their superiority over them, and proceeded to excesses, 
the narrative of which forms the bloodiest and blackest page in 
the annals of the world. These events are faithfully recorded 
elsewhere, and do not come within the scope of the present his- 
tory. They called forth, during their progress, much scrutiny in 
the British nation, who were able to behold from a safe distance the 
horrible effects of revolutionary fanaticism. At this period Ed- 
mund Burke published his celebrated " Reflections on the French 
Revolution." Mr. Fox and his friends defended the excesses of 
that execrable movement by their speeches in Parliament, in an- 
swer to those delivered by Burke in that assemblage. He de- 
clared " his total dissent from opinions so hostile to the general 
principles of liberty ; and which he was grieved to hear from the 
lips of a man whom he loved and revered — by whose precepts 
he had been taught, by whose example he had been animated to 
engage in their defence. He vindicated the conduct of the 
French army, in refusing to act against their fellow-citizens, from 
the aspersions of Mr. Burke, who had charged them with abetting 
an abominable sedition by mutiny and desertion — declaring that, 
if he could view a standing military force with less constitutional 
jealousy than before, it was owing to the noble spirit manifested 
by the French army, who, on becoming soldiers, had proved 
that they did not forfeit their character as citizens, and would 
not act as the mere instruments of a despot. The scenes of 
bloodshed and cruelty that had been acted in France, no man, said 
Mr. Fox, could hear of without lamenting. But when the griev- 
ous tyranny that the people had so long groaned under was con- 
sidered, the excesses they had committed in their efforts to shake 
off the yoke could not excite our astonishment so much as our 
regret. And as to the contrast which Mr. Burke had exhibited 
respecting the mode in which the two revolutions in England 
and France were conducted, it must be remembered that the sit- 
uation of the two kingdoms was totally different. In France, a 
free constitution was to be created. In England, it wanted only 



256 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

to be secured. If the fabric of government in England suffered 
less alteration, it was because it required less alteration. If a 
general destruction of the ancient constitution had taken place in 
France, it was because the whole system was radically hostile 
to liberty, and that every part of it breathed the direful spirit of 
despotism." 

Sheridan, one of the most gifted, unprincipled, and pitiable 
of men, advocated the same side in Parliament, with his usually 
brilliant and sparkling eloquence. Said he : " The people of 
France, it is true, have committed acts of barbarity and blood- 
shed which have justly excited indignation and abhorrence. 
That detestation and abhorrence, however, are still more justly 
due to the government of France prior to the revolution ; the 
tyranny and oppression of which had deprived the people of the 
rights of men and of citizens, and driven them to that degree of 
desperation which could alone have incited those unexampled 
acts of cruelty and revenge which had been practised in the first 
agitation and violence of the effort to regain their freedom. 
Could it be expected, that men in their situation should be capa- 
ble of acting with the same moderation and the same attention 
to humanity and sensibility as characterized freemen'? Were 
the mad outrages of a mob an adequate ground for branding the 
national assembly with the stigma of being a bloody, ferocious, 
and tyrannical democracy 1 It was a libel on that illustrious 
body thus to describe them. A better constitution than that 
which actually existed, it is allowed that France had a right to 
expect. From whom were they to receive it? From the 
bounty of the monarch at the head of his courtiers ? or from the 
patriotism of Marshal Broglio at the head of the army 1 From 
the faint and feeble cries emitted from the dark dungeons of the 
bastile 1 or from the influence and energy of that spirit which 
had laid the bastile in ashes 1 The people, unhappily misguided 
as they doubtless were in particular instances, had however acted 
rightly in their great object. They had placed the supreme au- 
thority of the community in those hands by whom alone it could 
be justly exercised, and had reduced their sovereign to the rank 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 257 

which properly belonged to kings — that of administrator of the 
laws established by the free consent of the community." * The 
radicals in England attempted at this period to promote the 
general revolutionary spirit by moving in Parliament the repeal 
of the Test Act — the great object of the abhorrence of the Eng- 
lish Dissenters. The repeal was supported by Fox and Sheridan, 
but opposed by Burke, with great eloquence and earnestness ; 
and the motion was defeated at last by a vote of nearly three 
hundred against a hundred and five. This result clearly indi- 
cated that, however much the French people might have gone 
mad with the delirium of political excitement, the sturdy British 
nation had remained uninfected by their insanity, in any consid- 
erable degree, and were unwilling to proceed even to that extent 
of reform which was consonant with the principles of enlightened 
and rational liberty. 

Although the great abilities of William Pitt were still devoted 
to the task of conducting the government, it was with the utmost 
difficulty that its financial necessities could be met. A circum- 
stance occurred at this period which serves to illustrate the truth 
of this assertion. The minister proposed in Parliament to take 
from the Bank of England the unclaimed dividends which re- 
mained in it, and apply them to the payment of the current 
expenses of the government. These dividends amounted to 
about five hundred thousand pounds. This proposition, the in- 
justice of which must be apparent to every intelligent observer, 
immediately incurred a tremendous storm of opposition. It was 
urged with great propriety, that the measure was dangerous and 
fraudulent to the utmost degree ; that its passage would under- 
mine the confidence and safety of the whole mercantile com- 
munity ; that the charter of the Bank expressly constituted that 
institution the guardian of the rights of the depositors ; that the 
money when once paid remains private property as much as 
before ; that dividends which had not remained unclaimed for 
three years could not properly be termed unclaimed, but only 
unreceived; that the dividends, exclusive of those of the last three 

* £ekham's George III., Vol. ii., p. 436. 



258 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

years, did not amount to a fifth part of the sum proposed by the 
minister to be seized ; and that the measure was in reality noth- 
ing else than an act of public and governmental robbery. Not- 
withstanding these conclusive arguments, so great was the pres- 
sure of the existing necessity, that the minister was enabled to 
effect a loan from the Bank of five hundred thousand pounds 
without interest, to remain as such, as long as a floating balance 
to that amount should remain in the hands of the Bank. 

The public tranquillity was, at this period, disturbed by riots 
which occurred at Birmingham, which were produced by the 
prevalence of religious excitement on the subject of the Trinity. , 
Joseph Priestley, celebrated both as a philosopher and as a theo- 
logian, had advocated, with great learning and ability, the theory 
that the founder of Christianity was not a divine personage, but 
merely a great teacher and prophet sent from God, who demon- 
strated the truth of his doctrines by signs and wonders which the 
deity performed through him. He also condemned religious; 
establishments as being prejudicial to the progress and poAver 
of pure religion ; as well he might, with the overwhelming evi- j 
dence which the worldliness, selfishness, and profligacy of a great 
portion of the clergy of the established church at that time pre- 
sented. Those whose interests were injured, or whose prejudices 
were shocked, by the views of Dr. Priestley, incited the indigna- 
tion of the mob to such an extreme, that they attacked and de- 
stroyed the chapel at Birmingham in which he officiated, and ac- 
complished a similar outrage upon the private residence, library, 
philosophical apparatus, and other property of the great Heresi- 
arch. This incident serves as an evidence that George III., his 
advisers, and his most influential subjects, who gave tone to pub- 
lic sentiment in that day, had been taught no lesson of enlight- 
ened charity or liberality by the thrilling and instructive events 
of the American Kevolution. 

A significant event of 1792, of a similar nature, as indicative 
of the conservative feeling which prevailed in England, was the 
recall of Lord Gower, the British Ambassador at Paris. This 
act was regarded by the leading revolutionists of France as 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 259 

an evidence of the enmity of the British court and people to the 
new order of things then progressing in that country. Nor can 
we wonder at or condemn this step, when we consider the horri- 
ble and destructive extremes to which the demagogues and assas- 
sins of that fated land were destined ultimately to arrive. Mean- 
while, the excesses which were being perpetrated in France so 
incensed or terrified the grave and order-loving English nation, 
that a great reaction took place among them in favor of conser- 
vatism and royalty ; and innumerable societies were formed 
throughout the kingdom for the purpose of protecting the king, 
the throne, and the church. The populace even became excited 
on the subject, and their absurd vociferations in favor of what 
they neither understood nor appreciated, resounded over the land 
from the hills of Cheviot to the cliffs of Dover, from the banks 
of the Tamar to those of the Tweed. This feeling was promptly 
followed up by the policy adopted by the king and his ministers. 
An embargo was placed on vessels freighted for France. The 
militia of the kingdom were increased, embodied, and drilled. 
Parliament was convened by proclamation before the day ap- 
pointed in the last prorogation, as if some great public crisis 
impended. M. Chauvelin, the French Ambassador, was ordered 
to depart the kingdom. These absurd and useless demonstra- 
tions soon led to the results which might have been confidently 
anticipated. On the 1st of February, 1793, the National Assem- 
bly of France unanimously passed a decree declaring war against 
the King of Great Britain and the Stadtholder of Holland. The 
object of the convention, and of the desperate assassins who 
governed it, in thus declaring war against the sovereigns of these 
countries, and not against the people or nations themselves, was 
to make a false and artificial distinction between the latter and 
their rulers, and if possible to create differences and jealousies be- 
tween them. That those who at that time ruled France did not 
possess the sympathy of the nation in their declaration of hostil- 
ities against England, was a well-known and incontestible fact.* 

* An evidence of this position may be found in the testimony of cotemporary 
travellers in France. One of them thus wrote : 

" During the whole of our journey (December, 1792,) we remarked that the 



260 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

apprehension of a war with England was peculiarly painful to the French. 
Though flushed with their late successes, and confident against a world in arms, 
it was evident there was nothing they dreaded more than such an event ; not 
merely on account of the mischief that might ensue, but because it would force 
them to regard as enemies the only nation in Europe they considered as their 
friends. All along the road they anxiously asked us what we thought would be 
the consequence of the armament in England ? We frankly told them we pre- 
sumed it would be war ; and generally observed a moment of silence and dejec- 
tion follow the delivery of our opinion. The imminence of hostilities, however, 
in no degree diminished the respect they showed us as Englishmen : and not 
only we did not meet with any thing like an insult in the whole of our tour, but, 
on the contrary, we experienced everywhere particular kindness and attention. 
They seemed eager to court our opinion ; and frequently begged us not to as- 
cribe to a whole nation the faults of individuals, and not to charge their govern- 
ment with disorders its present state of vacillation rendered it incompetent to 
repress. I confess I should never have suspected that I was travelling among a 
nation of savages, madmen, and assassins — I should rather have wished with 
Shakespeare, 

" That these contending kingdoms, 

England and France, whose very shores look pale 

With envy of each other's happiness, 

May lose their hatred." 

Vide " Tour through the Theatre of War, 1792." 



CHAPTER IX. 

Events of the War with France— Increased Unpopularity of the King— lie is assailed 
by the Populace— He is fired at in the Theatre— The Roman Catholic Bill— Demand 
of Bonaparte that the French Princes be expelled from England— Incidents of the 
Hostilities which ensued — Conspiracy of Robert Emmet in Ireland — Its Suppression 
— Decline of the Addington Ministry — Hostilities with France — Triumph of Nelson 
at Trafalgar — Exultation of the Nation — Death of William Pitt — He is succeeded by 
Charles James Fox — His short Administration and Death — Lord Howick — Mr. Can- 
ning becomes Foreign Secretary — British Victories in Spain and Portugal— Pro- 
digious Power of Napoleon Bonaparte. 

The events of the war which ensued were not so fortunate as to 
be adapted to natter the national pride in any great degree, while 
the public debts and burdens were thereby vastly augmented. 
The Duke of York was sent with an English army to join the 
Dutch in invading France. Partial success at first attended their 
efforts, and the fortress of Valenciennes was taken. The fortified 
harbor of Toulon also became the trophy of British prowess. 
But the events of the second campaign were entirely disastrous 
to the enemies of France. Toulon was retaken by the exertions 
of the greatest hero of modern times ; for at its siege the name 
and genius of Napoleon Bonaparte first attained a prominent 
place in history. At sea Earl Howe subsequently won a victory 
over the French fleet in the West Indies ; and several French 
colonies were transferred from the jurisdiction of that country 
to the possession of Britain. Corsica was also subdued, and the 
Anti-Gallican party, headed by the famous Paschal Paoli, ten- 
dered the sovereignty of the island to the British monarch. The 
English accordingly took possession ; but the French faction 
having subsequently gained the ascendency, the island was 



262 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

evacuated by its new masters, and was again annexed to 
France. 

These and other untoward events served to render the king 
very unpopular with the nation ; and he was destined to feel the 
palpable proofs of their disaffection. In October, 1795, as he 
was proceeding to the House of Lords he was assailed by the 
seditious cries of the multitude, and was fired at by an assassin 
among the mob. On his return from the House, his carriage 
was pelted with stones, rubbish, and other filth ; while the 
air resounded with shouts of " Bread," " No war," " No king.'* 
The unhappy monarch was much alarmed at these displays of I 
popular hostility. Nor were they of short duration. In Feb-i 
ruary, 1796, on the return of the king and queen from Drury 
Lane theatre, a stone was thrown at their carriage which passed 
through a glass panel, and struck the queen in the face. Not 
long afterward a female maniac made her way into the palace 
with the avowed purpose of assassinating the queen — whom shei 
called Mrs. Guelph — and her mother. In addition to these mor- 
tifications, George III. was harassed by the detestable conduct of 
the heir apparent, the Prince of Wales. This person had been 
married in 1795, as will be more minutely related hereafter, to 
the Princess Caroline of Brunswick ; but unhappy differences, 
which distracted and disgraced the royal family, took place be- 
tween them shortly after their nuptials. In many ways the 
Prince of Wales annoyed and afflicted his father, and tended to 
embitter his existence. These incidents should have won for the 
king the popular sympathy ; but such was not the case. In 
May, 1800, another attempt to assassinate him was made by an 
adventurer named Hatfield. As the king entered his box at the 
Drury Lane theatre, and was in the act of bowing to the audience, 
the shot was fired at him from the pit. He remained perfectly cool 
while the villain wts apprehended, and then sat down calmly to 
witness the performance. Having returned to the palace he re- 
marked to the queen on retiring to rest : " I shall sleep soundly 
and my prayer is, that the unhappy prisoner, who aimed at my 
life, may rest as quietly as I will." 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 263 

All these unfortunate incidents gradually tended again to un- 
dermine the harassed intellect of the king. Other causes of ir- 
ritation were added during the years 1801 and 1802. The 
emancipation of the Romanists from their civil disabilities was 
a measure very strongly and fiercely urged in Parliament, and 
by a powerful party in the nation. To this measure the king 
was earnestly opposed ; and he believed that his coronation oath 
bound him to unyielding resistance to every enlargement of lib 
erty or influence to that dangerous faction. His tendency to 
mental disease was also aggravated by his disputes with Mr. 
Pitt, who differed from the monarch widely in reference to the 
Roman Catholic and other questions. Mr. Pitt at length resigned 
in consequence of these differences, and Mr. Addington, after- 
ward Lord Sidmouth, became prime minister. Negotiations 
for peace were immediately commenced with France, which were 
eventually consummated by the treaty of Amiens in March, 
1802 ; at the terms of which the English nation rejoiced, but of 
which they had little reason to be proud. 

The king, during the mental attack which occurred at this 
period, remained silent for many hours at a time ; but he at 
length remarked after coming to himself: " I am better now, but 
will remain true to the church." The meaning of this expression 
is to be derived from the fact, that the Catholic question had been 
uppermost in his mind, and that the agitation which had taken 
place in reference to it, had been the chief cause of his derange- 
ment. It produced the same effect upon him which the loss of 
his American colonies had done upon a former occasion. As 
soon as the king felt himself conscious of the recovery of his in- 
tellect, he sent for the afflicted queen and princesses ; and the 
interview between them Avas extremely affecting.* The next 
day he sent for his son, the Duke of York, and held a long con- 
versation with him. For this prince the king entertained con- 

* After this attack of insanity had begun, Mr. Addington recommended a 
hop pilloio for the king, as being conducive to produce sleep. The suggestion 
was adopted with the most favorable resu Its, and the repose which the patient 
thus obtained soon led to his recovery. See Malmesbury Diaries, Vol. iv., p. 46. 



t?G4r HISTORY OF THE FOTJR GEOEGE8. 

siderable respect ; and with him he spoke freely in reference to 
what had occurred (hiring the time of his illness. He at length 
began on the subject of the Catholic question; but the prince, 
perceiving that his father was becoming painfully excited in 
reference to it, kindly stopped him, and assured him that Mr. 
Pitt had abandoned all intention of pressing his views upon 
the attention of Parliament. George III. afterward remarked in 
reference to this matter to Dr. Willis, one of his physicians, 
when speaking of Mr. Pitt's policy : " What has not he to an- 
swer for, who was the cause of my late illness."* The Duke of 
Portland subsequently declared, that the king had assured him 
that he would rather sutler martyrdom than submit to the meas- 
ure, or approve oi' it. It was affecting to witness the attachment 
of the monarch to his wife. He frequently exclaimed : " I am now 
perfectly well, and my queen, my queen has saved me." f In the 
fierce and bitter disputes which now took place between the Prince 
and Princess of Wales, the king uniformly took the side of the 
latter ; and when her husband first endeavored to remove their 
daughter, the Princess Charlotte, from the keeping of her mother, 
he declared : " The princess shall have her child ; and I will 
speak to Mr. Wyatt about building a wing to her present 
house." He justly detested and despised the Prince of Wales in 
his character of husband, as much as in that of a son and a 
subject. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, the ruler of France, entertained at this 
period the most hostile feelings against the British nation. He 
only waited for a pretext to recommence hostilities against 
them ; nor was he long in finding one. Some members of the 
Bourbon family had escaped the storms of the revolution, and 
had taken refuge in England. The Count D'Artois and the 
Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, were among the number. 
These persons had been received by George III. and by the prin- 
cipal nobility with courteous hospitality. Mr. Pitt, Mr. Wind- 
ham, and other leading statesmen had met these princes at the 

* PcUeir's Life, d-c, of Lord SiJmouth, Vol. i., p. 309. 

t Turn's Public and Private life of Lord Eldon, Vol. i., p. 205. 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THTED. 265 

tables of Lord Grenvillc, and the Prince Regent. Many of the 
Idherenta of the houses of Orleans and Bourbon had also taken 
up their abode in England, as the only asylum in Europe secure 
from the destructive rage of the enemies of the old dynasty. 
Be British press, either through their influence, or -without it, 
teemed with the most abusive articles against the French usurper 
and adventurer. Bonaparte complained that every wind which 
blew from England wafted to his ears nothing but slander and 
ridicule of his person and his power. He formally demanded 
that the Bourbons and their adherents should be expelled from 
British soil, and that the press be restricted in its allusions to 
the French ruler. 

With this absurd demand the king and his cabinet refused 
to comply. Angry conferences passed between Bonaparte and 
Lord "VVhitworth, the British minister at Paris, which led to no 
favorable result ; and on the 19th of May, 1803, war was de- 
clared reciprocally between the hostile powers at the same time, 
and without concert. Preparations for carrying on the conflict 
were made on both sides ; but the greater energy and success 
were on the part of the French. General Mortier overran the 
Electorate of Hanover, and the Hanse towns, Hamburg and Bre- 
men, were laid under heavy contributions. All the English res- 
idents in France were detained as prisoners of war. The Eng- 
lish, on their part, blockaded with their fleets the mouths of the 
Elbe and the Weser, and thus inflicted serious injury on the 
commerce of France and her allies. Another squadron under 
the command of Commodore Hood attacked the French works 
on the island of St. Lucie, and compelled them to surrender. 
Similar results followed at St. Domingo, Demerara, Essequibo, 
and Berbice. 

The congratulation which this series of successes produced, 
was diminished by the outbreak of a dangerous conspiracy which 
occurred at this period in Ireland. The leader in the movement 
was a young and enthusiastic lover of liberty, whose name and 
eloquence have since justly become historical. Robert Emmet, 
one of the most gifted men of his age, indulged the sanguine hope 
12 



266 HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

that his oppressed countrymen, under his guidance, would be able 
to elevate their native land from the position of degradation and 
dependence to which she had been reduced by British tyranny, 
and place her honorably among the catalogue of independent na- 
tions. He proposed to establish a separate Irish republic, by 
striking a decisive blow in the capital, by obtaining possession 
of the seat of government, by proclaiming a new and liberal con- 
stitution, and by thus completely overturning the detested des- 
potism of Britain in his native land. On the 23d of July, 1803, 
an assembly of his partisans, forming an immense and tumultu- 
ous mob, marched through the streets of Dublin, and proceeded 
to attack the castle of the viceroy. They were assailed in turn 
by a hundred and fifty regular troops, and, after a short contest, 
were entirely vanquished and dispersed. The whole insurrection 
had been planned and executed with the rash precipitancy and 
short-sighted enthusiasm, which usually characterize the move- 
ments of inexperienced youth. Emmet and his chief associates 
were taken, tried, convicted, sentenced, and executed. The 
brightest and best record of his fame and genius is to be found 
in the thrilling and powerful speech which he delivered in his 
own defense, in vindication of his unfortunate associates, and in 
deprecation of the mortal wrongs of his bleeding country, on the 
occasion of his trial for high treason in Dublin, before a special 
commission appointed by the king. 

The ministry, of which Mr. Addington was the chief, rapidly 
declined in influence. Various causes led to this result, among 
which one of the most prominent was the inefficiency with which 
the war had been conducted on the continent. On the 12th of 
May, 1804, the nation was gratified with the intelligence that 
Mr. Addington had resigned, and that the helm of government 
had been again confided to the skilful and powerful hands of 
William Pitt. For the last time this great man ascended to the 
highest dignity in the realm accessible to a subject. Other im- 
portant changes now took place in the cabinet. Lord Melville 
became First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Harborough, Secretary 
for Foreign Affairs, and Lord Camden, Secretary of War and 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 267 

the Colonies. Immediate steps were taken by the new minister 
to secure the military defense of the country against the formi- 
dable power of Napoleon. By the plan which he proposed, and 
carried in Parliament, a large standing army was raised, and 
every citizen of a certain age was transformed to some extent 
into a soldier, ready at any moment to take up arms against the 
threatened encroachments of the common foe. In December of 
this year, the Spanish monarch, under the controlling influence 
of Napoleon, declared war against England ; which event in- 
creased the difficulties and dangers which harassed, yet did not 
intimidate, the country. 

The year 1805 was rendered remarkable, among other events, 
by an autograph letter addressed by Napoleon to George III., in 
which he set forth the advantages of peace, and professed himself 
desirous of realizing them. Yet, at the same time, he proposed no 
definite conditions on which pacific relations could be established.* 
The answer of the British ministry, which was conveyed through 
Lord Mulgrave to M. Talleyrand, declared that no positive ar- 
rangements could be made on the subject, until the English gov- 
ernment had conferred with their allies on the continent, especi- 
ally with the Emperor Alexander of Eussia. This reply ter- 
minated the correspondence, and hostilities were resumed. 
Bonaparte fitted out a powerful fleet in the port of Toulon with 
the express design of invading England. The fleet set sail, and 
ultimately steered for the West Indies under the command of 

* " Tour Majesty," said Napoleon, "has gained more, within ten years, both 
in territory and riches, than the whole extent of Europe. Your nation is at the 
highest point of prosperity ; what can it hope from war ? To form a coalition 
with some powers on the continent ? The continent will remain tranquil ; a 
coalition can only increase the preponderance and continental greatness of 
France. To renew intestine troubles ? The times are no longer the same. To 
destroy our finances ? Finances founded on a flourishing agriculture can never 
be destroyed. To take from France her colonies ? Tbe colonies are to France 
only a secondary object ; and does not your majesty already possess more than 
you know how to preserve ? If your majesty would but reflect, you must per- 
ceive that the war is without an object, without any presumable result to your- 
self." See History of the Beign of George III, by Robert Bissett, BB.D. Vol. 
iii., p. 62. 






268 HISTOET OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

Admiral Villeneuve. His armament consisted of eighteen sail 
of the line, ten thousand veteran soldiers, beside a full comple- 
ment of seamen. Lord Nelson had been placed in command of 
the British fleet intended to meet and attack the French squad- 
ron. Subsequently the latter was augmented to twenty-seven 
sail of the line, by the addition of some Spanish ships. Lord 
Nelson was still in pursuit of the enemy, when, on the 21st of 
October, they were descried sailing off Cape Trafalgar on their 
way to Gibraltar. The English fleet had also been increased to 
the number of twenty-seven sail. The combatants were thus 
equal in strength ; and that great victory ensued which is perhaps 
the most brilliant and illustrious in the naval annals of the boast- 
ed mistress of the seas. Nineteen French ships of the line, to- 
gether with their Admiral, were taken by the British, and fifteen 
hundred of the enemy were slain. The news of this splendid 
triumph convulsed the nation with joy. No such exultation had 
been seen throughout the realm, since the memorable day when 
the victory of Blenheim crushed the prodigious power of Louis 
XIV. and covered the British arms with fadeless glory. The 
only restraint upon the universal congratulation was the death 
of Nelson, who expired from a gun-shot wound two hours after 
the termination of the conflict. 

The triumph of Trafalgar put an end for ever, to all Napo- 
leon's designs in reference to the actual invasion of England. He 
still continued his marvellous career of conquest on the conti- 
nent. Battle after battle, and victory after victory, attested the 
supremacy of his matchless military genius. His triumphant 
legions entered almost every capital in Europe ; and he set up 
and pulled down kings at his pleasure. A long series of sue 
cessful engagements, among which those of Ulm and Austerlitz 
were the most important, won for the Emperor of the French 
the iron crown of Italy. The British soil remained intact amid 
the convulsive throes of the nations ; for no foreign foe invaded 
it. While thus exulting in the happy exemption which they en- 
joyed, the British people were called to mourn the sudden death 
of the great minister who then guided so ably the helm of state. 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIKD. 269 

William Pitt expired on the 23d of January, 1806, in the forty- 
seventh year of his age, after having occupied the post of prime 
minister during a longer period than had fallen to the lot of any 
previous minister, during the reigns of the Georges. He had 
labored, and that with eminent success, to increase the maritime 
power of England ; to resist the spread of revolutionary princi- 
ples ; to oppose the encroachments of the great Corsican upon 
the power and influence of his country ; to form continental al- 
liances which would prove serviceable in resisting the common 
foe, and in advancing the internal prosperity, elevation, and im- 
provement of the nation over whom he ruled. His death was 
a national calamity ; and none felt it more deeply or keenly than 
the king himself. 

On the death of Mr. Pitt, Charles James Fox, his great rival, 
became Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Mr. Windham 
was appointed Secretary for the Department of War and the 
Colonies ; Lord Grenville, First Lord of the Treasury ; Lord 
Erskine, High Chancellor ; and Mr. Sheridan, Treasurer of the 
Navy. On the accession of Mr. Fox, hopes were entertained 
that peace might be established with the French Emperor, inas- 
much as he was well known to be on terms of personal friend- 
ship with that ambitious potentate ; nor is it improbable that 
the negotiations which ensued would have been successful, had 
not the British minister been compelled by a sense of honor to 
insist that Russia should be admitted to a share in the delibera- 
tions. To this measure Bonaparte was obstinately opposed, and 
he thus rendered all pacific intentions on the part of the British 
government utterly abortive. 

Mr. Fox was destined to retain the reins of power but a 
short time, and to follow his celebrated rival to the silence of 
the tomb a few months after his departure. In August, 1806, 
he proposed in Parliament the last measure which may be said 
to have originated with him, and which was worthy of so brilliant 
and splendid a career. He moved a resolution, asserting that 
the African slave-trade was contrary to the principles of justice, 
humanity, and sound policy ; that it be abolished, and its practice 



270 HISTOEY OF THE FOITB GEOEGES. 

be deemed piracy throughout the British dominions. The mo 
tion was carried in both houses, and at once received the appro vaJ 
of the king. On the 13th of the next month, September, 1806 
Mr. Fox expired, in the fifty-seventh year of his age ; and his 
mortal remains, shattered by the prodigious conflicts througl 
which he had passed during twenty-five years of active parlia 
mentary life, were laid, to take their last long slumber, in the 
same consecrated mould in Westminster Abbey, which contained 
the forms of his illustrious rival, and of the immortal ancestors 
of both. Lord Howick was appointed Secretary of Foreign 
Affairs in the place of the deceased statesman, for whose loss a 
nation, not much given to the luxury or the weakness of tears, 
sincerely and universally wept. 

The administration of Lord Howick, which proved to be of 
short duration, was remarkable only for the final abolition of I 
slavery in the British dominions, by the passage of a law which 1 
appointed the first of January, 1808, as the latest date at which 
the inhuman traffic would be permitted in any portion of the 
land or sea over which the flag of Britain waved. This law re- 
ceived the hearty approbation of the king. 

Lord Howick was succeeded by Mr. Canning as Secretary of 
Foreign Affairs, on the 25th of March, 1807. The chief incident 
of this year was the war with Denmark, which country had be- 
come the ally of Napoleon. A British fleet attacked Copen- 
hagen, which capitulated after a bombardment of three days. 
The British army took possession of the city, dockyards, arsenals, 
eighteen ships, and all the naval stores which were found 
in the capital. The Danes endeavored to retaliate ; they har- 
assed the British traders in the Baltic ; British property was 
confiscated throughout the kingdom ; and all correspondence 
with England was prohibited. The Emperor of Russia also be- 
came the friend of Denmark, and condemned the precipitate 
hostilities against that country which had been perpetrated. 
Bonaparte's retributive decree of Milan, excluding British mer- 
chandise from all the ports of the continent subject to his influ- 
ence, greatly crippled British commerce, and spread a gloomy 



LIFE AXD KEIGN OF GEOKGE TIIE TIIIKD. 271 

k feeling of apprehension over the nation. The prodigious strides 
toward universal conquest which Napoleon was making, added 
intensity to this feeling. During the year 1808 a treaty was 
negotiated with Spain and Portugal ; and a British army was 
sent under Sir Arthur Wellesley to expel the French forces 
from those kingdoms. The success which attended the move- 
ments of this able General, gradually increased the public confi- 
dence.* In January, 1809, Sir John Moore gained a decisive 
victory over Marshal Soult at Corunna. Subsequently, Wellesley 
expelled the Marshal from Oporto, and compelled both him and 
the gallant Ney to retire into Castile. The battle of Talavera 
added to the lustre of the British arms, by the defeat of Mar- 
shal Victor. During the years 1809 and 1810, the attention 
of the British people and government was chiefly enlisted in the 
prodigious events which were transpiring on the continent. In 
Spain, the various vicissitudes of the war of the succession 
finally resulted in the expulsion of Joseph Bonaparte from 
Madrid, and the total deliverance of Spain and Portugal from 
the presence and power of the French. Austria declared war at 
this period against Napoleon, and the combatants made a trial 
of their strength at the great battle of Aspern. Both parties 
claimed the victory. At the battle of Wagram which followed, 
the result was not so equivocal ; and the French gained an over- 
whelming triumph. The result of the ruin of the Austrian army 
was the marriage of the conqueror to the daughter of his im- 
perial and vanquished foe, and the elevation of the Archduchess 
Maria Louisa to the vacant seat of the discarded Josephine upon 
the throne of France. The hereditary successor of the prince of 
the apostles at Rome was dragged by the giant arm of the Cor- 
sican from his sacred seat, deprived of his secular authority, 
and conveyed as a prisoner to Avignon. The Ecclesiastical 
States were then annexed to the swelling bulk of the French 
Empire. Prussia was prostrated beneath the feet of the con- 

* See Considerations on the Causes, Objects, and Consequences of the Present 
War, and on the Expediency or Danger of Peace with France. By William 
Eoscoe. London, 1808. 



272 HISTORY OF THE FOUK GEORGES. 

queror ; for he had crushed her at the decisive battle of Jena. 
Holland, Westphalia, and Italy acknowledged the absolute su- 
premacy of this modern Alexander ; while the whole continent 
trembled with the dread of his colossal power. At this period 
the intellectual life of the British monarch may be said to have 
terminated for ever. The light of his reason failed at a time 
when apprehension and gloom oppressed the hearts of his sub- 
jects. The attack under which George III. now suffered, and 
which began in January, 1811, was regarded even by the mon- 
arch's friends, as so violent and hopeless, that on the sixth of 
February, his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, was installed as 
Eegent with regal authority. The death of the amiable Princess 
Amelia, the favorite daughter of the king, in November, 1810, 
had been the immediate cause of the final overthrow of his mind, 
in connection with the disastrous events which had recently oc- 
curred in various portions of the Empire. 



CHAPTER X. 



Renewed and Hopeless Insanity of George III. — Details respecting the Origin, Nature, 
and Effects of his Mental Disease — His Physicians — His Treatment— His Condition 
officially communicated to Parliament — A Regency permanently appointed — 
Gradual Decline of the Health of George III. — "War with the United States of 
America— Growth of the Power and Supremacy of Napoleon — His Overthrow by 
the European Coalition — His Retirement at Elba. 



The insanity of George III. presents one of the most remarkable 
phenomena contained in psychological history. He was afflicted 
during his lifetime with five separate attacks of mental disease. 
The first occurred in 1765, w-hen he was in his twenty-eighth 
year ; the second was in 1788, the third in 1801, the fourth in 
1804, and the last in January, 1811. None of these attacks, ex- 
cept the last, exceeded six months in duration. There was noth- 
ing in his constitution or mental habits to render such an affec- 
tion probable. His intellectual faculties, though moderate, were 
well-proportioned, and no marked deficiency characterized his 
natural powers. He was possessed of a strong and healthy frame, 
which had never been enervated by the excesses of passion, or by 
any sensual indulgences whatever. He took a great deal of exer- 
cise, amused himself frequently with the pleasures of music and 
the drama ; and was so fond of inspecting the useful and healthful 
operations of agriculture, that he deservedly received the epithet 
of " Farmer George." He was, moreover, extremely abstemious 
in eating and drinking, and observed with great strictness all 
the rules of propriety in thought, word, and deed. That such 
a man, whose reign extended nominally during the unparalleled 
period of sixty years, and none of whose ancestors or family had 
12* 



2TJ: HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

been similarly diseased, should be afflicted with insanity, and that 
eventually in an incurable form, was singular indeed. 

The king's first physicians when thus attacked, were Sir 
George Baker, Dr. Warren, Sir Lucas Pepys, Drs. Reynolds, 
Addington, and Gisborne. None of these persons possessed any 
peculiar skill or experience in the treatment of mental diseases ; 
and therefore the Rev. Francis Willis was added to their 
number. He was a clergyman of the established church, who 
had charge of a parish in Lincolnshire ; but he had carefully 
studied the subject of insanity, had practised a great deal in that 
department of medical science, and had attained wonderful suc- 
cess and great repute. He had provided an establishment for 
the treatment of the insane at Gretford, which was filled with 
patients, many of whom had greatly benefited by his treatment. 
At the period when he undertook the care of the insane king, he 
was an aged man, and a person of great cheerfulness, firmness 
and benevolence.* His first introduction to his patient was 
marked by an amusing incident. The latter asked him " whether 
he, as a clergyman, was not ashamed to exercise the profession 
of a doctor." Willis answered : " Sir, our Saviour himself went 
about healing the sick." " Yes," replied the king, " but he did 
not get seven hundred pounds a year for it."f Dr. Willis asso- 
ciated his son John with him in his treatment of their august 
patient, who was confined to his apartments in the palace. 
One attendant and one page were constantly required to remain 
in his room. The remedies which were given him were chiefly 
bark and saline medicines, and sometimes blisters were applied 
to his legs. He was secluded in a great measure from his family, 
his ministers and his friends ; and sometimes he was even placed 
in a straight jacket, when his paroxysms became violent. This 
extreme was resorted to by way of discipline, perhaps oftener 
than was necessary ; and it was a sad spectacle to behold the 
monarch of a great empire thus subjected to the most degrading 

* See WraxalVs Posthumous Memoirs of his Own Time. Philadelphia Edi- 
tion, p. 447. 

t Lord Malmesbury's Diaries, dec. Yol. ir., p. 317. 



LIFE AXD EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 275 

of indignities * The mastery which the elder Willis obtained 
over the rnind or the instinct of his patient, may be illustrated by 
an incident which occurred on the occasion of the examination of 
the physician before a committee of Parliament, of which Ed- 
mund Burke was a member. Willis had allowed the king to 
Iftve a razor and a penknife in his hands, at a time when every 
other observer regarded the act as perilous in the extreme. 
Burke asked him how he would have controlled the king had he 
suddenly become violent while these instruments were in his pos- 
session, and had attempted harm to himself or to others. Willis 
placed the candle near his face, and answered : ' ; There, sir, by the 
eye ; I would have looked at hirn thus, sir," at the same time as- 
suming a basilisk expression which compelled Burke instantly to 
avert his view from the spectacle. It is also asserted that Willis 
confounded Sheridan, a member of the same committee, in a simi- 
lar manner, on the same occasion. Said he : " Pray, sir, before you 
begin, be so good as to snuff the candles, that we may see clear, 
for I always like to see the face of the man I am speaking to." 
Sheridan, the most impudent and brazen-faced of men, was so 
overcome by this salute, that he was utterly unable to proceed. f 
The last attack under which the king suffered, was more vio- 
lent than the others which had preceded it, and was more nearly 
allied to delirium than to insanity or mere derangement. The 
incidents, therefore, connected with his life were more painful 
and affecting, as his case became more desperate and hopeless. 
These incidents became gradually known, and elicited the sym- 
pathy of the nation. The state of the king was officially, com- 
municated to Parliament from time to time, and became the 
subject of lengthy public discussions.^ A difference of opinion 
existed among his physicians as to the possibility of his recovery, 
some indulging the hope that the attack might end favorably, and 
some regarding the disease as incurable. His feelings were of 
a varied character ; at times he was elated, frivolous and extrava- 
gant, while at others he was gloomy, silent and depressed. 

* WraxalVs Posthumous Memoirs, p. 520. 

t Swinburne's Courts of Europe. Vol. ii., p. 75. 

\ Hansards Parliamentary Debates, First Series, xix. 



276 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

Some of his delusions were singular, exhibiting a mixture of sim 
plicity and shrewdness. On one occasion he appeared to be ad- 
dressing his conversation to two of his personal friends who had 
long been dead. Sir Henry Halford, who was present, remarked 
to him, that the persons to whom he spoke had been deceased 
many years. The king replied : " True, dead to you and to the 
world in general ; but not dead to me. You forget that I have 
the power of holding converse with those whom you call dead, 
and it is in vain for you, so far as I am concerned, to kill some 
of your patients."* 

For some years the last attack to which the king was subject- 
ed, merely unfitted him for the performance of his high and re- 
sponsible regal functions, and was not an entire overthrow of the 
powers of reason. During this period he enjoyed short intervals 
which might almost be termed lucid. He sometimes took a 
deep interest in politics ; his perception was tolerably clear, his 
memory very accurate, but his judgment w r as fallacious and un- 
reliable. On one occasion the queen entered his apartment while 
he was singing a hymn, and accompanying himself on the harp- 
sichord. He then knelt down, prayed for his family, his subjects, 
and for his own recovery to health and saneness. On another 
occasion he heard the church bell toll, and inquired of his attend- 
ant for whom it was rung. Being answered, he replied : " She 
was a good woman, has gone to heaven, and I hope soon to fol- 
low her." With the progress of time, however, the unfortunate 
monarch became worse, both mentally and physically. In 1819 
his appetite failed him ; in 1820 it was with difficulty that he 
was kept warm ; he was reduced to a skeleton ; and remained 
scarcely conscious of existence until, on the 29th of January, 
1820, he quietly sank into the arms of death, in the eighty- 
second year of his age, and in the sixtieth year of his reign. 

While the British monarch w r as thus removed from the exer- 
cise of his royal functions after October, 1810, the attention of 
the nation w r as chiefly enlisted in the momentous events which 
were transpiring on the continent, in the issue of which their 

* Campbell! s Lives of the Lord Chancellors. Vol. vii., p. 221. 



LIFE AJSTD REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 277 

own security was deeply involved. Napoleon still continued 
his career of triumph, and with the exception of Spain, Portugal, 
and Russia, may he said to have laid the whole continent at his 
feet. The interest of the English people was for a time divided 
between these momentous events, and those connected with the 
hostilities which were then waged with the United States. On the 
18th of June, 1812, the latter power declared war against Great 
Britain, and brilliant victories were gained by the fleet of the 
young republic over the ships of the mother country. On land, 
General Hull surrendered Fort Detroit and twenty -five hundred 
men with thirty pieces of ordnance to the British General Brock. 
On Lake Erie, six British vessels were destroyed or taken by an 
equal squadron of the Americans. The capitol of the Confederacy 
at Washington was attacked, taken, and the public buildings of 
the Federal Government burnt. The contest was honorable and 
profitable to neither party ; and peace was at length proclaimed 
between the belligerents, by the establishment of the treaty of 
Ghent, on the 24th of December, 1814. 

Meanwhile the insatiable ambition of Bonaparte was over- 
reaching itself on the continent of Europe. He determined to 
invade the Russian dominions with a vast army, and subject them 
also to his sway. Five hundred thousand men, fully equipped, 
with a prodigious array of artillery, passed the Niemen, and 
directed their march towards the walls of Moscow. Then follow- 
ed an expedition which has no parallel in history. The Russians 
defended their territory with a degree of heroism which rivalled 
that of the Spartans at Thermopyke. Great battles were fought, 
in which the proud Corsican was humbled, and the most fear- 
ful slaughter made of his veteran heroes, who had been trium- 
phant on a hundred fields of blood ; for the carnage of Borodino 
has no equal in the annals of war. The invader was expelled 
with ignominy from the hostile territory ; his power broken, his 
army buried beneath the frozen snows of Russia, and his throne 
shaken to its very foundations. Twenty-five thousand regular 
troops recrossed the Niemen, the wrecks of the myriads who 
had proudly passed over it six months before, with all the glo- 



278 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

rious ponip and majesty of war. Thus weakened, the usurper 
was soon compelled to confront a formidable conspiracy of na- 
tions, who combined to crush him, and tear him from his throne. 
He confronted them at Lutzen, Bautzen, Dresden, Leipsic, and 
on other immortal fields, sometimes obtaining triumphs, some- 
times suffering defeats, but always remaining heroic and undaunt- 
ed. Destiny seemed to turn against her favorite child ; and he 
was compelled to obey her firm behest in adversity as well as in 
prosperity. England, united with her continental allies, at 
length achieved the overthrow of the most fierce and formidable 
enemy who had ever assailed her power or her existence ; and 
Napoleon at last abdicated the throne which he had usurped, but 
which he had adorned with such matchless splendor. He ac- 
cepted the diminutive diadem of Elba, and there for a short 
period reposed the energies which had shaken and well nigh sub- 
dued a continent. But the great task of England, of her prince, 
her statesmen, and her people, was not yet completed. Another 
contest, the brightest, bloodiest, fiercest, and most important, yet 
remained to be fought, before the security, prosperity and glory 
of Great Britain would be placed upon a secure and permanent 
basis, exempt from all peril or mutability, and the details of 
these events still appropriately belong to the history of the era 
of George III. 



CHAPTEE XI. 



Napoleon's Escape from Elba— His Arrival at Paris— Combination of the Great Powers 
of Europe against Mm— His Prodigious Efforts to Confront them— Immense Re- 
sources of the Allies— Conflict at Charleroi— At Ligny — At Quatre Bras— Prepara- 
tion for a Decisive Battle— The Field of "Waterloo— Incidents of this Memorable 
Battle — Heroism of the Combatants— Defeat of Napoleon— Gratitude of the British 
Nation to the British Generals and Soldiers — Pacification of the Continent — State 
of the Finances — Commotions in Ireland — Domestic Legislation — The Kegency — 
Death of George III.— State of the British Empire at this Period. 



On the 26th of February, 1815, Bonaparte sailed from Elba, in 
command of nine hundred men, with the determination of recov- 
ering the throne of France, and if necessary of again convulsing 
the continent of Europe by the storms of war. He landed at 
Cannes on the 1st of March ; he disembarked and immediately 
commenced his approach to the French capital. The successive 
triumphs of this strange and adventurous journey, whose thrill- 
ing incidents were worthy of the unparalleled career of the great 
conqueror, began at Grenoble, whose garrison threw down their 
arms and shouted " Vive FEmpereur" the moment he appeared to 
their view. Here his troops swelled to the number of three 
thousand ; and he took the line of march thence to the more im- 
portant city of Lyons. The Bourbon princes and Marshal Mac- 
donald attempted here to stem the swelling tide of the invader's 
popularity, but in vain. The same magic spell which every- 
where gained the conqueror of Austerlitz and Jena the hearts of 
the French soldiery, effected the same result here, and Napoleon 
entered Lyons in triumph. At Besancon he first met his old 
comrade Ney, who had rashly promised Louis XVIII. to bring 
Napoleon to him captive in an iron cage ; and after a short in- 



280 HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

terview, so powerful was the spell which the Corsican threwt '» ; 
over the impulsive marshal, that he re-entered his service, and; i 
assisted in swelling Napoleon's triumphant cortege as it neared h 
the capital. On the 20th of March the ex-emperor entered! t 
Paris, from which the Bourbon and Orleans princes had pre- 
viously taken their flight. 

On regaining possession of the throne, Bonaparte immediate- 
ly despatched letters to all the sovereigns of Europe, informing 
them that he had been restored to supreme power by the unani- $ 
mous will of the French nation ; and that he was willing to main- 
tain the existing peace on the same terms as those which had 
been settled with the Bourbons. These letters were referred by 
their several recipients to the Congress of Vienna, which still 
continued its deliberations in the Austrian capital. But that as- 
semblage decreed that no answer should be returned to the letter ; 
and they further issued a manifesto declaring that Napoleon, by 
his desertion of Elba and his invasion of the French territory, 
had placed himself beyond the pale of all civil and social rela- 
tions ; that he had forfeited the only title to life which he yet re- 
tained ; that he was a disturber of the tranquillity of Europe ; 
and that he had become obnoxious to public vengeance. The 
great powers of Europe, England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, 
entered into a treaty on the 25th of March, by which they bound 
themselves to unite their entire military resources, and not to 
lay down their arms or to conclude peace, until Napoleon, the 
common enemy of mankind, had been finally and completely 
crushed. 

Unterrified by this formidable proclamation, the French em- 
peror instantly commenced to made preparations to confront 
a continent which was rising in arms against him. He displayed 
prodigious energy and inexhaustible activity in every depart- 
ment of administrative duty. New levies were ordered through- 
out France, already exhausted by the loss of her best and most 
vigorous blood. Ammunition, arms, and artillery were fabri- 
cated by every possible means, and with the most urgent haste. 
As many of Napoleon's former marshals as he could influence, 



LIFE ASTD EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 281 

ie regained from their sworn allegiance to the Bourbons ; but of 
;hese eminent soldiers, Macdonald, Augereau, Oudinot, Victor, 
VTarmont, and St. Cyr refused to violate their oaths and rejoin 
lis standards. On the 1st of June he proclaimed a new con- 
stitution on the Champ de Mai, by which visionary and delu- 
ive fabric he hoped to gain the doubtful hearts of the French 
people. A showy and gorgeous pageant was exhibited on that 
>ccasion, such as was well calculated to attract and fascinate the 
lation ; but the ultimate decision in this great conflict was de- 
pendent, not on imposing and glittering shows, but on the stern 
ind bloody fortunes of war. 

The armies of the allies were hastening toward the frontiers 
)f France. A hundred and fifty thousand Austrian troops, com- 
manded by Prince Schwartzenberg, were marching toward the 
Rhine ; two hundred thousand Russians were gathering on the 
jonfines of Alsace ; a hundred and fifty thousand Prussians, under 
;he orders of Blucher, and burning with unquenchable fury to 
ivenge the horrors and outrages of Jena, occupied Flanders; 
»vhile eighty thousand British troops, led on by Wellington, were 
issembled in Belgium. The smaller contingents of the secondary 
jerman principalities, were preparing to take the field ; and the 
svhole of these combined together, would swell the number of 
nen in arms against Napoleon during the Hundred Days to 
learly a million. Against this vast armament, the French em- 
peror, by the exercise of exertions which no mortal had ever 
before or since exhibited, in any great crisis of human destiny, 
iould muster only four hundred thousand men, and a large pro- 
portion of these were raw recruits and youths who had practised 
ao military training, nor had ever witnessed the horrors of a 
battle-field. 

Napoleon commenced operations on the 15th of June, by at- 
tacking the Prussians posted at Charleroi. In this movement he 
was successful, and compelled the latter to retire to Ligny. At 
this place the combatants again encountered each other on the 
16th. A furious conflict ensued, for Blucher himself now com- 
manded the Prussians. Here, for the last time, the star of Na- 



282 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

poleou's glory was triumphant, and that great warrior wh< 
had been the victor on so many fields of blood, who seemec 
to have chained the goddess Fortune to his car during 
so many adventurous and memorable years, gained the las 
laurels which were destined to decorate his imperial brow 
Though Blucher fought with the ferocity of a lion, and repeatedlj 
led on his broken ranks to the charge, he was eventually van 
quished, and compelled to retreat. But he left the field, thougl 
not the victor, yet unconquered ; and reserved his chief energies 
for the great battle of the age which was soon to ensue. 

While Napoleon was thus earning his last laurels at Ligny 
Ney was combatting the English army at Quatre-Bras. Here 
the " Bravest of the Brave " strove in vain to make any impres- 
sion upon the adamantine ranks of that stern race, whose military 
prowess he and his haughty master had never yet fully' tested, 
but with which they were destined soon to become familiar. The 
French were repulsed in all their attacks, and the British re- 
mained masters of all their positions. The shades of darkness 
alone put an end to the bloody conflict, and five thousand dead 
and wounded on each side attested the degree of fury which had 
characterized it. Yet these engagements were all merely pre- 
paratory to that more decisive combat which was about to 
occur, in which was involved the future destiny not only 
of the British empire, but also of every country and throne ill 
Europe. 

During the 17th of June, the French and allied armies ap- 
proached from different directions the immortal field of Water- 
loo. The rain fell in torrents ; and few even of the bravest 
slept during the solemn hours of the night which succeeded 
The awful grandeur and importance of the approaching conflict, 
impressed even the most thoughtless. Never before since the 
beginning of time, had men contended for stakes of such prodi- 
gious magnitude. Upon the uncertain issue of the coming battle 
depended the fate of that mighty hero, whose achievements far 
transcended the achievements of all other men. A battle was 
about to be fought more decisive than that of Marathon, Cannae, 



LIFE AND KEION OF GEOKGE THE TRIED. 283 

K 3r Blenheim. The destiny of a greater hero than either Mil- 
siLiades, Hannibal, or Marlborough then hung trembling in the 
ij uncertain balance. And now for the first time the two ablest 
j generals of that age were about to measure their swords to- 
gether ; and the future fate of each entirely depended upon the 
ssue. If the British were defeated, retreat even from the battle 
1 field would be impossible ; for the dense forest of Soignies in 
I their rear would cut off every means of escape. If Napoleon 
i were vancpiished, his fortunes would be ruined forever, and he 
would thenceforth become a fugitive and vagabond on the earth ; 
and those who were about to engage in this struggle, were fully 
i conscious of the supreme importance of the occasion. 

At length the tedious hours of night wore away. The busy 
sounds of hurried preparation, the confused and multitudinous 
hum which betokened the near presence of mighty armaments, 
and which had echoed from both camps during the night, gradu- 
ally subsided. The morning of the 18th of June, 1815, arose 
upon the world ; and with its cheerful light there came that hour, 
pregnant with the fate of so many millions of human beings ; 
that hour to which the events of preceding centuries had long 
converged ; that hour to which many ages yet to come will point 
as the great decisive epoch which gave tone and color to the his- 
tory of succeeding generations. The last grand act in the stupen- 
dous drama of Napoleon's career was now about to commence, 
ere the curtain fell upon it in darkness and gloom forever. 

When the day dawned, a hundred and seventy-five thousand 
men sprang from their dripping beds, and arrayed themselves 
for the last time for the shock and the carnage of battle. Soon 
the various regiments of both armies began to deploy into their 
assigned positions. The battle-field extended two miles in length 
from the chateau of Hugomont on the extreme right, to that of 
La Haye Sainte on the left. Through the centre of this line the 
great high road or chaussie from Brussels to Charleroi passed, 
nearly a mile from the village of Waterloo. Both armies were 
arrayed on the crest of gentle eminences somewhat semi-circular 
in form, and opposite to each other, between which a natural 



284 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

slope or glacis intervened. The two armies presented a magnifi-i if 
cent appearance. The French numbered eighty thousand, then 
English and Belgians seventy-two thousand. Like huge serpents in 
the long, dark masses wound around the eminences to the thrill-i ill 
ing sound of martial music, and gradually formed into line. Fi 
Napoleon had two hundred and fifty cannon ; the English a hun-ffe 
dred and fifty-six. The French troops were formed in threetti 
lines, each flanked by dense masses of cavalry. Their brilliant^ 
uniforms and dazzling arms presented a gorgeous and imposing \ 
spectacle. The English troops were drawn up for the most part! I 
in solid squares, supported by cavalry in the rear. In front of 
their whole position their artillery was skilfully arrayed, di-, i 
rectly facing the formidable number of guns displayed by the; I 
French. Appearances were certainly in favor of Napoleon be- 
fore the battle began, both as to the number, the equipment, 
and the arrangement of his troops. On that great day, each of 
the opposing commanders had exerted his utmost skill, and had 
exhausted the whole military art, in the disposition of their re- 
spective armies, so as to increase their effectiveness to the fullest I 
degree. 

Just as the village clock at Nivelles struck eleven, Napoleon 
gave the order to commence the combat from the centre of his 
lines. The column of Jerome, six thousand strong, first attacked I 
the English posted , in the chateau of Hugomont. A vigorous 
contest here took place which resulted in the dislodgement of the 
English troops, and the conflagration of the edifice. This conflict, 
however, was only intended by Napoleon to conceal the main 
point of attack, which was in the right centre. The cannonade 
had now become general along the whole line. Ney was ordered 
to attack the British stationed along the hedge, and in the chateau 
of La Haye Sainte. This was the strongest position held by 
Wellington. As soon as the latter perceived the large masses 
of troops which were marching against this portion of his line, 
he drew up the splendid and powerful regiment of the Scotch 
Greys, the Enniskillens, and the Queen's Bays in its support. 
The French columns steadily pressed up the slope till within 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 285 

wenty yards of the British guns. Here a furious conflict en- 
ued. The heroic Picton fell at the head of his regiment, as he 
graved forward his troops with his sword. The Scotch Greys 
packed their foes with prodigious energy and effect. The 
Trench columns then hesitated. The Scotch, shouting " Scotland 
orcver," rushed on to the attack. They carried a battery of 
wenty guns ; charged the second line, routed it, and assailed 
he third. The last line of the French even began to yield, 
'hen Napoleon, perceiving the greatness of the disaster, ordered 
tfilhaud's cuirassiers to charge the advancing foe. In this col- 
ision the brave Ponsonby died a heroic death ; and so desperate 
vas the conflict that the returning Scotch brought back with 
hem scarcely a fifth part of their original number. As Napoleon 
fazed from the eminence on which he stood while he surveyed 
he battle, at the splendid and effective charge of the brave Scotch 
avalry he exclaimed : Ces terribles ckevaux gris ; comme Us tra- 
milhnt! But before the Scotch had completed their charge, 
hey had broken and dispersed a column of five thousand men ; 
lad taken two thousand prisoners ; and had either captured or 
piked eighty pieces of camion, which comprised the whole of 
.Sey's artillery. 

Undismayed by this disaster, Napoleon ordered twenty thou- 
?and cuirassiers under the command of Milhaud, to advance to 
;he support of Ney in the centre. Soon La Haye Sainte was 
aken. An entire battalion of Hanoverian troops was almost de- 
stroyed by the French, but their tide of conquest was terminated 
by Wellington ordering up the Life Guards, the Royal Horse 
Guards, and the 1st Dragoon Guards to the defence. The ad- 
vance of the French was then stopped ; but Napoleon being de- 
termined to carry the important post of La Haye Sainte, brought 
up his whole body of light cavalry to the attack. Wellington 
still resisted these furious and repeated onslaughts on his lines, 
by ordering up to their support his whole reserve, and the Bel- 
gian regiments which were stationed in the rear. 

Thus for three hours the uncertain conflict raged throughout 
;he whole length of the tumultuous lines, with the most desperate 



286 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

fury. Prodigious acts of heroism were performed by mam I 
whose names have long since descended with them to their gori f 
and forgotten graves, on that ensanguined field. The dead am I 
dying lay piled in immense heaps, and the whole of the contend lit 
ing armies were involved in the -dense smoke and the thunderin 
uproar of battle. Neither host appeared willing to yield. Bot'l W- 
seemed determined to conquer or to perish. As evening ap!» v 
proached, Napoleon saw the necessity of combining his energies) k' 
and by one prodigious effort to carry the day. All along thi mi 
line, two miles in length, the awful conflict raged ; but it wa; 
now destined to become more furious, more deadly, moW 
destructive still. Suddenly at half-past four o'clock, a darl 
mass appeared in the distance, moving in the direction of Frischjrf 
ermont. It was a Prussian corps, sixteen thousand strong, whc 
were hastening toward the scene of conflict. Napoleon imme 
diately detached Lobun with seven thousand men to arrest their 
progress ; while he himself determined, at that critical moment 
to put into execution his last and greatest resource, the one which 
had rarely failed to win the victory to his standards, and to 
crush the most powerful, enthusiastic, and formidable foes. : 
This was to bring forward the grand attack of the Old Imperial 
Guard. It was this veteran corps which had decided the fate 
of Europe on many great battle-fields. It was this corps which 
had made the best troops of Russia and Austria quail and flee at 
Friedland and Wagram ; which had broken the power of the Prus- 
sian columns at Jena and Lutzen ; which had overwhelmed the 
Russian lines at Borodino and Austerlitz. Napoleon himself 
now rode through the ranks of these grim and dauntless warriors, 
and harangued them with a few words of burning eloquence. He 
briefly told them that the fate of the day, his own fate, and the 
fate of France and Europe, now depended upon themselves. 
Loud shouts of Vive V Empereur in reply echoed far and wide 
over the plain, and drowned for a moment, even the mighty 
thunder of the cannon. Napoleon accompanied his veteran 
heroes a considerable way down the slope on their advance ; and 
as each column defiled before him, he addressed them words of 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 287 

■ tirring eulogy and hope, which revived or increased their cour- 
I ge. They advanced to the final attack of the British centre in 
m wo great masses, one of which was led by Marshal Ney, the 
ther by General Reille. 

Never before, in the memorable annals of warfare, had there 
Aeen such a shock as that which took place when the Old Guard, 
ip taving approached with solemn and steady tread within forty 
ej eet of the English lines, commenced with their ancient heroism 
kind resolution the task of vanquishing their desperate and power- 
aiul foes. The very earth shook beneath their terrific onset. 
n Chey were met by the English Foot Guards, and the 73d and 
tl iOth regiments, with a heroism equal to their own. The eyes 
I )f all the combatants were turned toward the spot where that 
iflleadly conflict was taking place. Quickly and with desperate 
jnergy all the most destructive evolutions of warfare were ex- 
scuted. Immortal deeds were then achieved, which find no su- 
oerior in all the blood-stained annals of military glory and am- 
bition. But Wellington had made admirable dispositions to 
meet this last grand attack of the Old Guard, which had also 
been anticipated. He had stationed his artillery so as completely 
to sweep their lines ; and as they approached near to his position, 
his batteries were unmasked, and they poured into the advancing 
host a prodigious storm of iron hail. The first lines of the Im- 
perial Guards melted like frostwork as they came within range 
of the terrible guns ; and though those in the rear resolutely 
pressed on to the attack, they made no further advance. They 
still crumbled away. A dead mass of soldiers rose higher and 
higher above the earth ; but the head of the living column was 
unable to approach nearer than before, to the object of their 
attack. 

At length the Imperial Guard recoiled. Napoleon, who had 
intently watched their progress, turned deadly pale, when he 
witnessed their useless heroism and their slow and ignominious 
retreat. Soon the horrid cry was repeated along the French 
lines : " Tout est perdue, la Guarde recuile ! " and the enormous 



288 HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

mass, broken and in confusion, fled in headlong retreat down th 
hill. 

At this instant the rest of the Prussian army under Bliiche 
and Ziethen came within range of the field, and opened a batter] 
of a hundred guns upon the tumultuous masses of the French 
It was now nearly eight o'clock. Soon the Prussians, thirty-si? 
thousand in number, reached the French lines, and commenced 
a furious attack upon the exhausted and disordered multitude 
At that moment the star of Napoleon's glory, after having foi 
twenty years shone in unequalled splendor near the zenith, 
trembled, flickered, and then descended in ominous gloom, never 
to rise again. In vain the desperate and ruined adventurer 
strove to rally his discomfited warriors. In vain he swept on 
his noble charger over the plain, recalling his faltering troops to 
return once more to the attack. Terror now pervaded every 
breast. The retreat became general ; and though Napoleon ex- 
posed himself in the most dangerous positions, and seemed even 
to seek for death, in restoring courage and order, all was in 
vain ; and the ruin of his army, his fortunes, and his hopes was 
complete and irremediable. At last exclaiming : " All is lost ! 
let us save ourselves ! " he turned his horse and fled from the 
field of battle. The Prussians pursued the helpless fugitives 
with a rancor which only the memory of the horrors of the battle 
of Jena, and the unequalled outrages then committed by Na- 
poleon on Prussia, could have excited. Multitudes of the re- 
treating French were slain. The whole of Napoleon's artillery 
fell into the hands of the pursuers. For miles the earth was 
completely covered with an innumerable number of broken car- 
riages, wagons, baggage, arms and wrecks of every kind. Forty 
thousand men only escaped of that vast and splendid arma- 
ment of eighty thousand, who on the morning of that very 
day, full of martial pomp and pride, had marched under the 
French eagles. Nearly forty thousand men had either been 
slain, wounded, or taken prisoners. The loss of the Allies was 
sixteen thousand killed and wounded. The loss of the Prussians 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 289 

in the battles of the 16th and 18th of June amounted to thirty- 
three thousand.* 

The fallen hero reached Paris during the night of the 20th, 
and the two Chambers were immediately summoned. The de- 
liberations which ensued resulted in the abdication of Napoleon, 
his departure for Rochefort, his reception on board the Beller- 
ophon, his transfer to the distant island of St. Helena, the re- 
instatement of Louis XVIII. upon the throne of his ancestors, 
and the general establishment of peace throughout a continent so 
long convulsed and distracted by the innumerable horrors of 
war. 

One of the first acts of the British Parliament, after the con- 
clusion of hostilities in 1815, was to pass votes of thanks to the 
Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blucher ; while more substan- 
tial, and therefore more valuable, evidences of public regard and 
gratitude than votes of thanks were bestowed upon the great 
English commander and his troops. All the regiments of cav- 
alry and infantry which had been engaged in the battle, were 
permitted to inscribe the word Waterloo upon their col- 
ors ; and the soldiers were allowed to count two years for that 
victory in reckoning their future claims for an increase of their 
pay, or for a pension when discharged. Half a million pounds 
were raised for the relief of the wounded, and for the relatives of 
those who had fallen on that bloody field. A grant of two hun- 
dred thousand pounds was voted by Parliament to the Duke of 
Wellington, in addition to the considerable emoluments which 
he had received for his previous services, as an evidence of the 
appreciation and gratitude of the nation and their represent- 
atives. 

Meanwhile the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain were active- 
ly engaged in the conventions of Vienna and Chaumont, which 
were delegated by the powers of Europe to settle the affairs of 
France, and her relations to surrounding countries. The French 

* See Memorable Scenes in French History, from the Era of Cardinal Riche~ 
lieu until the Present Time; Embracing the Prominent Events of the Last 
Three Centuries. New York : Miller, Orton & Co., 1858, p. 820. 
13 



290 HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

territory was reduced to the same limits as those which existed 
previous to the commencement of the first revolution ; and an 
indemnity of seven- hundred millions of francs was demanded, 
and conceded by the government of Louis XVI1L, to reimburse 
the Allies for the expenses incurred during the war ; nor can this 
vast sum be deemed exorbitant when the events of the past were 
impartially considered. During the year 1815, the territorial 
importance of Great Britain was farther increased by the ad- 
dition of the island of Ceylon to her dominions. This result was 
produced by a native revolution. The subjects of the King of 
Candy, who governed the interior, rose in rebellion against his 
insufferable tyranny, overthrew the despot, and finally took him 
prisoner. The native Chiefs then conferred together, and re- 
solved to offer the supremacy of the island to the British mon- 
arch. A treaty was adopted between the Chiefs and the repre- 
sentatives of the English government then present at Ceylon, by 
which it was agreed that the Candian Empire should be vested 
in the British sovereign, reserving to the native Chiefs and to 
their subjects their rights and immunities. The family of the 
deposed king was forever excluded from the throne ; many cruel 
laws were at once abrogated, and beneficial regulations intro- 
duced ; while the administration of justice and the religion of 
Buddha were allowed to remain unaltered and inviolable. This 
new accession of territory may justly be regarded as having been 
a desirable event, both for the inhabitants of Ceylon themselves, 
and for that colossal empire to whose enlightened laws and in- 
fluence they thenceforth became subject. _ 
"When the British Parliament assembled in February, 1816, 
the prosperous state of the affairs of the nation excited general con- 
gratulation. The various documents having reference to the sev- 
eral treaties which had been recently adopted, by which the 
peace of Europe had been consolidated, were laid before Parlia- 
ment, and approved. The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave a 
full exposition of the financial state of the Empire ; and his re- 
port set forth that provision should be made for the outstanding 
bills of the years 1814 and 1815, which he estimated at thirty 



LIFE AJSTD KEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 291 

live million pounds. He also stated that the nation was then 
laboring under great financial embarrassments, which chiefly 
arose from the depreciation of agricultural produce, and the im- 
mense burdens imposed by the recent wars. He proposed, as 
a remedy, to renew the property tax, but at a diminished rate 
of one-half its preceding proportion, at five, instead of ten, per 
cent. The ordinary annual revenues were estimated at twenty- 
seven million pounds, the five per cent, property tax at six mil- 
lions ; and an advance from the Bank of England of six millions 
at four per cent, was recommended by the Chancellor as a neces- 
sary addition. But the renewal of the property tax was resisted 
by the vociferous opposition of the community, and it was there- 
fore eventually abandoned. Parliament was prorogued on the 
2d of July, after having effected various measures which tended 
to promote the prosperity of the nation. Yet these efforts were 
not entirely successful ; for the first year of peace proved to be 
almost as disastrous to the domestic trade and interests of the 
people as the preceding years of war had been. This circumstance 
arose from the fact that, by the establishment of peace, all those 
sources of industrial profit which had been opened by the exigen- 
cies of nations at war, were at once dried up ; and men no longer 
possessed the means of indulging in those commodities and lux- 
uries from the production of which vast numbers derived their 
subsistence. 

These evils were greatly increased by an inclement season 
which ensued, and which destroyed in a great measure the agri- 
cultural resources of the kingdom. Serious riots ensued in the 
counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Huntingdon. The colliers of 
Staffordshire, and the iron founders of South Wales, suffered 
greatly from being thrown out of employment ; for men had 
learned to turn their spears into pruning hooks, and their swords 
into ploughshares, and no longer needed the accumulation of 
iron for the fabrication of the murderous weapons of Avar. 
Other riots occurred in the metropolis, which at first threatened 
to produce dangerous consequences ; but these and all other in- 
dications were eventually put down by military force, and amel- 



.^92 HISTORY OF THE FOUK GEOEGES. 

iorated by the reactionary power of increasing industry and 
thrift. 

During the parliamentary session of 1817, several important 
measures were passed by the British Legislature. Bills were 
passed to compensate for civil services ; to abolish the office of 
Wardens and Justices in Eyre ; to issue Exchequer bills to the 
amount of half a million pounds to complete the public works 
then in progress ; while a motion, introduced by the eloquent 
Irish patriot, Mr. Grattan, to remove the disabilities which un- 
justly impeded the introduction of Roman Catholics into Parlia- 
ment, was rejected by a small majority. Mr. Wilberforce, the 
great opponent of the foreign slave trade, again proposed his be- 
neficent reforms in reference to that infamous traffic ; and de- 
manded that Portugal, Spain, and Holland, who had agreed by 
solemn treaties to abolish it entirely within their dominions, but 
who had failed to execute their obligations in the premises, might 
be compelled to do so. The motion was passed in Parliament ; 
without however any specific means having been authorized, by 
which the beneficent end contemplated might be practically re- 
alized. During this year three persons, Brandreth, Turner, and 
Ludlaw, who had taken a prominent and dangerous part in the 
popular tumults which occurred in different portions of the 
kingdom, were tried for high treason at Derby by a special com- 
mission, were found guilty, and were executed. Many others 
who were implicated with them in a less degree, received more 
lenient punishments ; and some M'ho had been led astray by ig- 
norance rather than by wickedness into revolt, were pardoned 
by the royal clemency. 

In 1818 acts were passed by Parliament appropriating the 
sum of a million pounds sterling for the purpose of erecting new- 
places of worship for the use of congregations of the Established 
Church ; for dividing parishes into two or more parochial dis- 
tricts, each of which was to be provided with a church and min- 
ister ; to authorize the building of chapels of ease, the clergymen 
of which were to be nominated by the rectors of the parishes in 
which they were situated, subject to the approval of the diocesan. 



LITE AUD KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 293 

An Alien Act was passed, to continue in force during two years, 
for the purpose of excluding from the British territory those 
persons who might use their vicinity to France in order to plot 
against the permanency of the throne of Louis XVIII., or any 
other of the allies of Great Britain. Changes were also made in 
the powers and prerogatives of the Regency, by which the queen 
was empowered to appoint additional members of the coun- 
cil to whose care the person of George III. had been intrusted. 
In pursuance of this act, the Earl of Macclesfield, the Bishop of 
London, the Lord St. Helen, and Lord Henley, were added to 
the existing members of the council. Mr. Brougham introduced 
his famous bill respecting the education of the poor of the realm 
during the session of 1818, and supported its passage with great 
eloquence and ability. After being subjected to various amend- 
ments in the jealous House of Lords — a body of men which has 
been, during many generations, only a dead weight and a per- 
nicious obstacle to the advance of British legislation, resisting 
every measure, however beneficent and enlightened, which might 
tend in any way to increase the importance and to enlarge the 
influence of the masses of the people — the bill, after being mutil- 
ated, emasculated, and deformed by their lordships, eventually 
passed both houses. 

During 1819 the care of the person of the invalid king was 
entrusted to the Duke of York, subject to the assistance of a 
council. This measure became necessary in consequence of the 
death of his consort, Queen Charlotte, who expired on the 17th 
of November preceding, after having spent many years in mourn- 
ful yet assiduous attendance upon the wants of her unfortunate 
husband. By her death the treatment which was applied to the 
king became less tender and considerate ; and had he still re- 
tained a glimmer of intellectual light, he would have been able to 
perceive that in Charlotte's death he had lost his most faithful 
and devoted friend. 

In 1819 Sir James Macintosh introduced into the British 
Parliament a subject which had long demanded their corrective 
and reformatory agency. This subject was the Criminal Juris- 



294 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

prudence of the realm, which was based upon a barbarous and 
cruel code, which has been the disgrace of England during many 
ages. As the law then existed, the penalty of death was affixed 
to three classes or genera of crimes. The first included murder, 
and all other malicious acts which were directly intended to de- 
stroy human life. The second comprehended arson, robbery, 
piracy, and crimes of similar character which usually tended to 
the loss of life, as a concomitant of their chief purpose in the un- 
lawful acquisition of property. The third class related to a hun- 
dred and fifty different offences which were of much less magni- 
tude, and which were punished in all other civilized countries, 
by a much lighter penalty. Sir James proposed that in refer- 
ence to all crimes which were included in the third class, the 
death penalty should be abolished ; and after a long and arduous 
contest, in which he was sustained by all the statesmen distin- 
guished for enlightened views in the realm, he succeeded in carry- 
ing his proposition, by the appointment of a select committee, 
through - whose agency the proposed reforms were eventually 
consummated. 

During this session of Parliament Sir Francis Burdett moved 
his famous bill proposing that the House of Commons should 
take into consideration the subject of the representation of the 
people in Parliament. The great curse of British legislation was 
the want of a fair and equitable representation ; and the proposed 
measure, if properly carried out, would result in the amelioration 
of the existing evil. A very spirited debate ensued ; but 
eventually, by the artful management of the Tory leaders, the 
issue was evaded through a vote by which the house passed to 
the order of the day. This result did not crush the spirit of dis- 
affection which was gradually increasing throughout a portion of 
the kingdom j and public meetings, in which the subject of pai-- 
liamentary reform was discussed in a bold and seditious manner, 
were held at Birmingham, Smithfield, Manchester and Leeds. 
Riots ensued, which were eventually suppressed only by the in- 
terference of the military, and by the effusion of blood. The public 
discontents afterward became the subject of discussion in Parlia- 



LITE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 295 

meat, and acts were passed for suppressing seditious libels, for 
subjecting cheap popular tracts to a duty, for preventing sedi- 
tious meetings of all kinds, for the seizure of arms intended for 
seditious purposes, and to prohibit military training. By the 
rigid enforcement of these provisions, the danger which seemed 
to threaten the internal peace of the kingdom was successfully 
averted. 

At the period of the death of George III., the vast empire of 
which he was the nominal head may be said to have attained a 
degree of harmony, prosperity, and splendor, which it never be- 
fore possessed. All its colonies and appendages, including those 
of the Eastern and Western Indies, were loyal and united ; Ire- 
land for the time being was tranquil and appeased; education, 
commerce, and manufactures flourished at home ; and intimate 
alliances firmly bound the British government in amity with the 
great powers of the continent. In May, 1819, a short time pre- 
vious to the death of the king, Mr. Tiernay moved in the House 
of Commons for the appointment of a committee to take into 
consideration the state of the nation, alleging at the same time 
that the conduct of ministers had been unwise, pernicious, and 
censurable ; and demanding their immediate removal from 
office. What opinion the British Parliament entertained in ref- 
erence to the condition of the British people at that moment, may 
be clearly inferred from the significant fact, that the motion of 
Mr. Tiernay was lost by an overwhelming vote of three hundred 
and fifty-seven against a hundred and seventy-eight.* 

* The supplies for the year were stated at £20,477,000. Of the ways and 
means, the annual malt, and temporary excise duties added to the minor sums 
arising from the lottery and the sale of old naval stores, amounted to £7,074,000 ; 
a loan of twelve millions by competition, and another of the same amount de- 
rived from the sinking fund, joined to the above sum, produced a total of 
£31,974,000, leaving a surplus of £10,597,000 to be applied to the reduction 
of the unfunded debt, of which five millions would be payable to the Bank of 
England, and the remaining $5,597,000 to the individual holders of Exchequer 
bills. Bissett's History of the Reign of George III., Vol. iii., p. 359. 



CHAPTEK XII. 

Importance of the Era of George III.— Historic Portraits of its most Distinguished Per- 
sonages — William Pitt, Earl of Chatham— His Appearance— Character of his Elo- 
quence — His high sense of Honor — His Enlarged and Enlightened Views — Lord 
North — His Character and Talents — The Difficulties of his Position — Splendid array 
of Parliamentary Orators of this Era — Varied Talents of Edmund Burke — His 
Imagination — His Erudition — His Conservative Opinions— Charles James Fox— His 
Contrast in every Eespect to Burke — His prodigious Power as a Parliamentary De- 
bater — His Efforts as an Author — The Younger Pitt the sole Bival of Fox as a 
Debater— Sheridan — His Merits and Defects— William Windham — .Junius — Distin- 
guished Jurists— Horace Walpole — Eminent Historians, Poets, and Prelates of tho 
Reign of George III. 

The protracted reign of George III. may justly be regarded as 
the most remarkable which has occurred in English history. 
This distinction did not result from any peculiar quality or supe- 
riority of the sovereign ; for, like every other monarch of his race 
who ever swayed a sceptre, he was in every respect a most 
ordinary and common-place person. But the importance of his 
era, and of the events which occurred during its continuance, 
arose from the splendid abilities of the statesmen to whom he 
successively confided the government ; from the commanding 
talents of those who acted in opposition to his administration ; 
from the matchless skill and fortitude of many of his generals ; 
and from the peculiar combination of causes and effects, of influ- 
ences and counter-influences, which happened to combine and to 
culminate during the progress of his reign. We will conclude 
our survey of the life and times of George III., by presenting 
historic portraits of some of the most distinguished personages 
who then lived and flourished. 

William Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham, is the great colossal 
figure of this epoch. His importance has rendered it necessary 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 297 

for us to refer to him so frequently in the previous history, that 
a very extended notice of him is less requisite here. His grand- 
father had been Governor of Madras, and had amassed a fortune 
in India. His father was member of the House of Commons for 
Oakhampton. Pitt's elder brother inherited the family estates ; 
he himself was the possessor of a matchless genius, far more val- 
uable than any estate. His education was completed at Oxford 
University ; and at the early age of twenty-four, by the assistance 
of the family influence, he was elected to a seat in Parliament for 
Old Sarum. Then began his splendid Parliamentary career 
which continued during thirty years, and which no Englishman 
has ever surpassed or even emulated. 

At the period of Pitt's entrance into Parliament, and for 
many years afterward, the art of reporting speeches was in a 
most imperfect state ; and consequently many of the most mag- 
nificent displays of his eloquence were lost to posterity. For 
many years it was even illegal to publish pretended reports of 
the proceedings of the Legislature ; but notwithstanding these 
disadvantages, the superiority of Pitt as an orator soon com- 
manded the admiration of the nation. His person was tall and 
stately. His features were prominent and expressive. His eye 
was the eye of an eagle; and its mere defiant or derisive glances 
struck many a hostile orator dumb with confusion and dismay. 
When he spoke he did not disdain to use every art which could 
give effect to his eloquence. His gestures, his attitudes, his at- 
tire, all were duly arranged and disposed so as to render them 
most impressive and effective. His speeches were never pre- 
pared beforehand, and delivered from memory. On a single occa- 
sion he attempted this plan, and signally failed. He uniformly 
spoke from the impulse of the moment ; and his speeches, if not 
remarkable for length, for close consecutive reasoning, for long- 
drawn and elaborate deductions and processes of illustration and 
argument, were characterized by a rapidity, a force, a concentra- 
tion of oratorical and declamatory power, which, without stop- 
ping to overturn his adversaries in detail, blasted the whole as- 
semblage of them by a few overwhelming and resistless blows. 
13* 



298 HISTORY OF THE FOUK GEOKGES. 

He resembled a Titan who obliterated a generation of pigmies 
not by many, but by a single stroke of his powerful arm. 

Lord Chatham possessed great firmness and fixedness of pur- 
pose. Nothing could move him after he had once taken his po- 
sition. He was disinterested, and scorned money and all the 
other mercenary considerations which govern the conduct of the 
majority of men. His immense popularity with the nation arose 
from his supposed integrity and incorruptibility of .character ; 
which seemed to be more astonishing in a day when even Robert 
Walpole declared that every man had his price. No one knew the 
statesmen of England better than Walpole ; for his potent bribes 
had corrupted all of them, save Pitt alone. He too had his price ; 
but it was not money which influenced him. His was a nobler pas- 
sion. He loved power with the same insatiable greediness with 
which Marlborough, the most avaricious of statesmen, loved money. 
After power, Pitt loved fame ; and he desired to be known and 
esteemed by his countrymen as a celebrity. But he was also a 
true patriot. An injury or a disgrace inflicted on his country, 
he felt deeply as a grievous misfortune inflicted upon himself. 
Hence, when he at last attained supreme power, his measures, 
which were wise and sagacious, were executed with such pro- 
digious energy, and with such single reference to the honor, 
glory, and power of Great Britain, that he soon rendered her the 
first nation on the globe. His views were much in advance of 
those of his age and generation. This was clearly illustrated by 
the policy which he pursued in reference to the American Col- 
onies. The stupid king was obstinately bent on preserving the 
integrity of the empire at all hazards, and without making any 
sacrifice. His fawning favorites commended and applauded his 
perverse ignorance. Pitt alone clearly saw that it was impos- 
sible to retain the colonies in base dependence upon, and sub- 
jection to, the mother country ; that there were growing and 
resistless energies lodged in the heart of those colonies, which 
must be expanded and developed freely without constraint ; and 
that if any attempt were made to repress them or confine them, 
an explosion would inevitably occur which would shatter the 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 299 

mpire into fragments. Consequently he recommended that the 
jords should be relaxed, that the young restive giants should be 
governed loosely, that they should be permitted to expend their 
Dent-up powers freely, and that, while they should be retained in 
lominal connection with the mother country, the home govern- 
:nent should scarcely seem to control them at all ; but should 
lope to derive their greatest revenue and profit from the in- 
creased and extended commerce which would rapidly arise be- 
tween the two countries. These views seemed absurd to the 
short-sighted contemporaries of Pitt ; and acting on an opposite 
line of policy, the cords broke which were too tightly drawn, 
and America became a free, a hostile, and even now, a rival em- 
pire. One of his declarations on this subject was as follows : " I 
rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people, so 
dead to all the feelings of liberty, as voluntarily to let themselves 
be made slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves 
of all the rest. America, if she fell, would fall like a strong 
man ; she would embrace the pillars of the state, and pull down 
the constitution along with her." Pitt was great in the ministry 
and out of it ; and was trusted by the nation more heartily than 
any other statesman before and since. His acceptance of a pen- 
sion for his family and of a peerage for himself rendered him un- 
popular for a time, as his enemies intended it should ; but he 
soon recovered his place in the inmost heart of the nation ; and at 
last his death enshrined him there with a security and permanence, 
which no lapse of time or vicissitude of events can ever diminish. 
Lord North remained for some years the favorite minister of 
George III., and the regard which the obstinate yet conscientious 
monarch entertained for him was very great. His disposition 
was amiable, agreeable, and conciliatory. He rendered a great 
service to the king, by accepting the labors and perils of office at 
a time of considerable danger, when the Duke of Grafton suddenly 
resigned the post of premier, and retired to the ebmraces of his 
mistress at Newmarket, and left the king almost helpless. North 
was a man of noble birth and liberal education, and spoke the 
principal modern languages of Europe fluently. Madame de 



300 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

Stael asserted that he possessed V Esprit Europeen which made 
him perfectly at home in the saloons of Paris, Naples, Vienna, 
and London. Before his promotion to the premiership, he had 
held several important offices ; he had been one of the Lords of 
the Treasury, Paymaster of the Forces, and Chancellor of the 
Exchequer. He retained his highest trust during thirteen years ; 
and that period was rendered memorable by the progress and 
conclusion of the war in the United States. No minister was 
ever surrounded by greater difficulties than Lord North. He 
was compelled to support the war by the express command and 
determination of the king. The nation at home was soured and 
incensed by the ultimate defeat which justly met the line of pol- 
icy pursued toward the resisting and restive colonies. A power- 
ful opposition in Parliament crippled his movements, and hin- 
dered him in the attainment of his most cherished purposes. 
The eloquence of Burke, Fox, Barre, and Dunning, was hurled at 
his head. Chatham aimed his vast oratorical thunderbolts at his 
exposed principles and measures. And yet, without claiming or 
possessing any of the qualities of a great speaker, he succeeded 
in maintaining his position, in spite of them all, for some years. 
His mental powers consisted chiefly in his clear, excellent good 
^ense, his natural adroitness and tact, his ever ready fluency of 
speech, his undaunted and unflinching courage, his enlivening and 
playful wit, and a perfect self-possession, and control of temper, 
which was never disconcerted or disturbed. On one occasion, a 
fierce declaimer in Parliament demanded his head as a penalty 
for his treason ; and looking round to see what effect this terrific 
onslaught would produce upon his victim, was overwhelmed to 
see him asleep ; and when the orator at length awoke him by his 
increased vociferations, Lord North complained how cruel it was 
to deprive him of the solace which all other criminals enjoyed, of 
having a night's rest before their execution. 

The most splendid intellectual phase of the reign of George 
III. was the combination of parliamentary talents which the union 
of Burke, Fox, Sheridan, and Pitt presented at one and the same 
time, in the National Legislature. Four such men were never 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 301 

associated together before or since, in any legislative assembly. 
Burke was an Irishman by birth, and came over to England 
at an early age, to advance his slender and insufficient fortunes. 
His first occupation was literature, and he devoted his superior 
powers to the elaboration of several works — one on the Sublime 
and Beautiful — which hold a permanent place in English litera- 
ture. It is probable that his early habits of scholastic thinking 
exerted a strong influence on his subsequent career as an orator, 
and gave him that stately and elaborate unfitness for a popular 
assembly which characterized him, and which rendered him, 
when discussing a dry and abstruse theme of finance or political 
philosophy, one of the most tedious and insufferable of men.* 
He possessed an imagination of the richest and most luxuriant 
affluence ; which was stored with the varied learning which he 
had gathered from the literature and the history of all nations, 
climes, and ages. This peculiarity was illustrated in his speeches 
against Warren Hastings, during which he proved himself to be 
perfectly familiar with all that appertained to the vast and di- 
versified communities of India. He described with the minuteness 
and accuracy of which a native or a resident of that distant zone 
might alone be supposed to be capable, the gorgeous and exquis- 
ite temples of the Hindoo faith, the worship and forms of gaudy 
and hideous idols, the repulsive usages and sufferings of religious 
devotees, the magnificence of oriental courts and palaces, the 
bright array of Indian armies, the bewitching loveliness of East- 
ern female beauty, the mingled and miscellaneous scenes of can- 
opied elephants, showy horsemen, turbaned slaves, and barbaric 
pageants of every kind, which constantly attract and astonish the 
traveller ; he depicted with unrivalled power, the ancient laws, 
institutions, and customs, both religious, literary, and political, of 
that vast realm, which contains within its limits the crumbling 

* Thus Goldsmith very properly describes him on these occasions as being — 
" Too deep for his hearers : he went on refining, 
And thought of convincing, while they thought of dining." 
Samuel Johnson declared that no man could meet Burke under a gateway, in a 
shower, without discovering that he was a great man. 



302 HISTOEY OF THE FOTJE GEOEG-ES. 

empire of the Great Mogul, the palaces of Aladdin, Ackbar, and 
Arungzebe, the splendors of Delhi, Lucknow, and Benares, and 
the matchless marvels of art, wealth, and luxury which there ex- 
ist, of which peacock thrones, crystal halls, perfumed fountains, 
and royal tombs decorated with massive gold and priceless gems, 
are frequent and familiar ingredients. 

But Burke possessed talents of a more practical character 
than a gorgeous imagination. He was a safe and sagacious 
statesman. His powerful intellect probed to the bottom of every 
subject. He was shocked at the excesses of the French Revolu- 
tion, as well as by its theoretic principles, and he remained its 
fierce traducer till the last day of his existence. His mind was 
so constituted that, with the best intentions, if his prejudices and 
conscientious convictions were once fixed against a principle or a 
person, he was their unflinching opponent under all circumstances, 
and at every risk. In his prosecution of Warren Hastings, he 
was evidently justified by the facts of the case. The same re- 
mark is applicable to his condemnation of the French Revolu- 
tion. But he sometimes carried his ardor to unwarrantable 
lengths. An illustration of this fact is furnished by his treatment 
of his intimate friend Mr. Fox in 1791, when discussing the bill 
for establishing a constitution in Canada. During the debate, 
the French Revolution was alluded to by Mr. Fox, and com- 
mended ; though the latter contended that remarks in reference 
to the state of France were, in that discussion, totally out of 
order. Mr. Burke replied that he and Mr. Fox had often dif- 
fered, and with no loss of friendship ; but that there was some- 
thing in the " accursed French Constitution " which envenomed 
every thing. Mr. Fox interrupted him and said, that there was no 
loss of friendship, as he hoped, even in that dispute. Mi*. Burke 
replied that there was an end to their friendship, and he knew 
the price of his conduct.* Mr. Fox hearing this declaration, im- 
mediately burst into tears at the thought of being thus remorse- 
lessly whirled away by his ancient friend, in the wild tumultuous 
vortex of his passion. He was undoubtedly honest and conscien- 

* JSelsham's Life of George III., Yol. iii., p. 475. 






LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. "303 

ious in all his opinions and measures. He was incorruptible in 
regard to pecuniary affairs ; and in 1782, -while Paymaster of 
the Forces, he voluntarily diminished his own emoluments in 
order to increase the revenue of Chelsea Hospital. He positively 
refused a pension until after his retirement from political life in 
95 ; although he had been pressed by his friends in the govern- 
ment to accept one at a much earlier period. 

As an orator, Mr. Burke stands unrivalled as the head and 
representative of a great class. He belonged to the elaborate, 
gorgeous, and somewhat artificial school, each of whose orations, 
like those of Demosthenes, may be regarded as a finished and 
complete masterpiece. The same highly-wrought style of compo- 
sition which is exhibited in his writings — in his Thoughts on the 
Causes of the Present Discontents, in his Reflections on the 
French Revolution, in his Discourses on Taste — is displayed in 
his speeches. They all evince a mastery over a wide range of 
intellectual accomplishment, and are richly stored with argument, 
pathos, epigram, metaphor, logic, and illustrations from every 
department of human science. He was greatly the superior in 
the profundity and diversity of his attainments to Fox, Pitt, or 
Sheridan. Throughout life he was a conservative in sentiment, 
and always opposed and condemned the supremacy of the mob. 
He undervalued the rights and interests of the people, and did 
not give due credit to their influence and importance in the body 
politic. This was the sole error under which he labored, the sol- 
itary delusion which misled him. As an orator he is deservedly 
placed in the front rank of British statesmen ; as the worthy 
rival and associate of Fox and Pitt, and as being the greatest 
representative of a class of men whose mental and moral quali- 
ties differ loto ccelo from those of the illustrious men we have 
just named. 

Charles James Fox was the chief of these. No greater con- 
trast could possibly be imagined than that which existed between 
him and Burke. He was the son of Henry Fox, the distinguished 
rival of the first William Pitt. He was deficient in those 
vast and varied attainments which Burke possessed. His acqui- 



304 HISTOKY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

sitions did not extend even beyond the ordinary range of English 
and classical learning, modern languages, and history. Of the 
sciences, natural, metaphysical, and mathematical, he was generally 
ignorant ; but he was the greatest master of a close, clear, con- 
clusive, declamatory logic that ever appeared in the British Par- 
liament. The structure of all his faculties was robust and vigor- 
ous. He was careless of ornament, and never sought to embellish 
his speeches with any of the beauteous accessions which taste, 
poetry, fancy, or art might bestow. He always followed closely 
and tenaciously the main point under discussion ; met and over- 
threw with the strokes of his logic every argument which op- 
posed his advance ; and delivered his speeches with the fervid, 
rapid, abounding fluency which indicated both the richness of his 
mental resources and his lavish expenditure of them. His de- 
livery was ungraceful. His features were coarse, heavy, and 
repulsive, with a dark complexion and beetle-brow. He was fond 
of pleasure,, and his morals were of the worst description* Yet 
his temper was sweet and amiable beyond all comparison ; and 
it rendered him the idol of those who were admitted to his soci- 
ety. There was little of dissimulation or duplicity in his charac- 
ter, and his impulsive candor sometimes rendered him the victim 
of the designing. It was singular that a man so given to a life 
of pleasure and business, whose scholastic attainments were so 
limited, and whose mental habits were so discursive, should 
have undertaken the task of authorship. His worst speech 
was the only one which he ever wrote,f and his " History," 
which remains merely as a fragment, clearly indicates that it 
is the production of a great mind, but one unused to the task of 
composition, and unskilled in the acquisition and disposition 

* On one occasion -he was travelling with his mistress, Mrs. Armstead, on 
the Continent, when a renewed attack of the king's insanity gave hopes of the 
immediate accession of the Prince of Wales to the regency, and Fox's promotion 
to the premiership. Though he hastened back rapidly to London, he was doomed 
at that time to be disappointed. One of bis chief vices was his desperate de- 
votion to gambling. 

+ Against Francis, Duke of Bedford. See Brougham's Lives of Statesmen 
of the Time of George III., Vol. i., p. 157. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 305 

the proper materials. The style is indeed correct, because it 
polished with anxious care ; but it is lifeless, because the artist 
the desire to polish, has subdued all the salient points which in- 
nate the presence and power of intellectual life. His sole glory 
truth was as a debater. In opposition and in reply he was the 
ost formidable antagonist whom the younger Pitt, himself a 
ant, was compelled to encounter. His political opinions or 
andpoint was that of the genuine Whigs ; and he adhered to 
ese views throughout his chequered life. He attained the 
•emiership only a few months previous to his decease ; and the 
irland for which he had toiled during many laborious and tem- 
istuous years, withered on his brow almost before time per- 
itted it to settle securely there. His highest merit as a states- 
an probably was, that he supported and promoted the abolition 
' the African Slave Trade, and aided to wipe out that crimson 
ot from the escutcheon of England. As the leader of a great 
irty in the House of Commons he w r as a model, and has since 
id no equal ; for his potent eloquence was connected with other 
ualities equally essential, of which many distinguished party 
aders have been destitute : his lax moral principles made him 
illing to adopt unscrupulously all possible expedients ; his 
veetness of temper gained over and retained the most arrogant 
ad irascible of men ; his placability healed the wounds of every 
erce dispute ; his firmness and courage made him reliable in 
very emergency, while they rendered him undismayed by any 
eril. One singular ground of his immense popularity with the 
ation, was the fact that he was the most perfect specimen of an 
nglishman, in every respect ; and a model of English taste as an 
rator and as a man, both as to the faculties of his mind and his 
eculiar social qualities. Even his fastidious disregard of all re- 
undant ornament in his speeches commended him to the admi- 
ation of his countrymen ; for they regarded him as the honest, 
earty, and sturdy champion of English freedom, English laws, 
nglish commerce, and English tastes, in opposition to all that 
ras foreign, transplanted, or corrupted. 

The first position in the affection of the British people was 



306 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

long contested with Mr. Fox by William Pitt, the son of 
" Great Commoner." He appeared in Parliament at a very earlj 
age, and exhibited the abilities of an able orator and a matur 
jjolitician, at a period of life when others are acquiring the veri- 
rudiments of eloquence and political science. He passed througiF' 
his studies at Cambridge with credit, and there became familial® 
with classical, scientific, and mathematical knowledge. He afteiP 
ward studied the law, with ultimate reference to his admissioiP 
to the bar. He was very soon transferred by the interest of hiiP 
family and by his own growing fame, from the courts of justice! «< 
to the more ample and distinguished arena of the Senate ; anoiltf 
from the day of his entrance there, he assumed a place in the firs- 
rank of British orators. After several years spent in this pout 
sition he was promoted to the cabinet of George III., and subset! h 
quently, as has appeared from the preceding history, to theio 
premiership. ) 

Pitt's fame as an orator was well deserved. He was no till 
florid or ornate in his style ; he rarely called in the use ofil I 
tropes and figures to aid his purpose ; he had little variety oil 
manner, and less gracefulness of delivery. But he possessed exit 
traordinary fluency ; he never hesitated, as Fox sometimes didjl 
for the appropriate word ; and there was a magical and harmonioual 
flow of his utterance from the beginning to the end of the speech/ 
which resembled the ample and affluent current of a great river- 
rushing onward to its termination with confidence and exultation. 
His orations were characterized by a lucid arrangement, which 
rendered his discussion of the most intricate financial questions 
clear and intelligible ; while the correctness and elegance of his 
diction, his perfect self-possession, his strong and sonorous voice, 
his commanding attitude, and his significant and natural ges- 
ticulation, free from all surreptitious arts or assumed affecta- 
tions, contributed to make him one of the most impressive 
speakers who ever graced the British Parliament. So undeni- 
able was his merit in this respect, that it extorted unqualified 
praise from his opponents and rivals, even from the most distin- 
guished ; for Mr. Fox himself, when replying to Pitt's great 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 307 

t >eech on the Avar in 1803, candidly declared that "the orators 

antiquity would have admired, probably would have envied 

This encomium would have applied with greater propriety 

f Pitt's speech in 1791 against the African Slave Trade, which 

pssented, during several hours, an uninterrupted torrent of the 

It lost majestic, pathetic, and impressive declamation ; respecting 

t( Inch effort William Windham, one of the most capable of 

in idges, remarked that, as he thoughtfully returned to his home 

fter hearing it, he was lost in a reverie at the amazing compass 

ad power which human eloquence could possess, and which, till 

len, he had never fully witnessed. 

The spirit of this illustrious statesman was bold and enter- 
rising. The measures which he proposed and adopted were of 
lis description ; and Napoleon himself had no abler or more 
jrmidable opponent in his ambitious schemes than he. His 
ldgment was singularly sagacious, and was rarely deluded by 
he most specious or attractive chimeras which solicited his at- 
sntion. His favorite department was that of commerce and 
nance ; in the elaboration of its details he was perfectly at 
:ome ; and he loved to associate with men who were addicted to 
imilar studies and pursuits. He was eminently industrious, 
aborious, and painstaking. His patriotism was of the purest 
,nd highest order. When invited by his father to marry the 
ich and illustrious Mademoiselle Necker, afterward Madame de 
stael, he replied, with some truth, that he was already married to 
lis country ; and he never had any other spouse. To her he de- 
nted his undivided affections, and all the gigantic energies of 
lis nature. He was incorruptible ; and during his long tenure 
>f the highest office in the realm, he reformed many of the worst 
ibuses which cursed the administration of the government, and 
idded nothing to his private fortune. He was more scientific 
md accurate than his father ; but he was less colossal in his in- 
ellectual bulk. He did not possess the majestic and imposing 
iountenance of the elder Pitt, nor his marvellous grace and 
power of delivery. His features were shorter, and less expres- 
sive ; and his person, though tall, was meagre. In advocating 



308 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

great measures of domestic policy or foreign war, he cared littlf 
for the expense which attended them. Accordingly, the result cl 1 - 
his administration uniformly was to increase the public debt tit* 
a prodigious extent. He was fertile in expedients, and devised ;i ; 
multiplicity of new taxes. His love of power was so insatiable r" 
that he could bear no aspiring person near the throne. Accordingly '■: 
his chief associates and agents in the administration were Dundaa ■" 
Rose, Jenkinson, and Benfield — all men of secondary abilities' *' 
The great authority with Mr. Pitt in the science of political econi *' 
omy and philosophy, was Adam Smith, whose able work, Thd a ' 
Wealth of Nations, was his constant companion and text-book, I 
In private life Pitt was amiable and blameless ; but he had no do ; m 
mestic tics. His high office, he justly described as the pride ol f 
his heart and the pleasure of his existence. His chief glory is 
that, during many stormy and tempestuous years, he fought the 
whole battle of his government, single-handed, against a host ol 
the most fierce and gifted adversaries who ever assailed a minister, 
including such master spirits as Burke, Fox, Sheridan, Windham, 
North, Erskine, and Barrc. 

But England, so fertile in men of superior genius, has pro- I 
duced but one Sheridan — the most remarkable combination of- 1 s 
high faculties and contemptible weaknesses which the checkered I l 
page of history exhibits. In his youth he was idle and indolent 
beyond measure. He was sent to school at Harrow, where he 
might have profited by the instructions of the learned Parr ; 
but he paid no attention to his books, and till the day of 
his death, remained so deficient in acquired stores of learning, 
that he never, knew any thing of so ordinary an attainment i 
as French, and he frequently misspelt words in his native lan- 
guage. After leaving Harrow, Sheridan being without the 
means of attending a university, took to literature, the usual 
starving refuge of dependent and impoverished genius. He 
wrote poetry and novels — all of which, happily for the fame of 
the author, have long since descended to oblivion. He resided 
at this period of his early manhood at Bath, and there became 
acquainted with a distinguished songstress, Miss Linley, whom 



LITE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 309 

afterward married. She was remarkable for her beauty, in- 
ligence, and wit, and shared the subsequent fate of her husband 
th mingled pride, sorrow, and patience. 

Though Sheridan entered himself as a student of law on the 
ioks of the Inner Temple, he never seriously prosecuted his 
*al studies. Shortly after his marriage, he obtained a share in 
rury Lane Theatre, and began to write plays. His convivial 
lalities were so remarkable that they rendered him popular in 
e highest circles of the metropolis ; and he soon obtained suffi- 
nt influence to be elected to a seat in Parliament from the bor- 
igh of Stafford. In early manhood this remarkable man was 
irrounded by all the splendors of genius, fame, fashion, and 
jtoularity. He attached himself to the Whig party, and dis- 
ayed in Parliament a degree of popular eloquence which was, 
r its kind, unequalled and unrivalled, and made him one of the 
ost valuable of those allies who aided the opposition which as- 
liled George III. during many years. 

Sheridan was a man without principle, who lived only for 
opularity, and for the emoluments of office. He deserted his 
arty and his friends whenever his interests dictated such a 
ourse. This assertion is proved by his conduct on two memo- 
able occasions ; in 1802 and in 1806. He himself urged as an 
xcuse for his perfidy, the pecuniary necessities of his position ; 
ut with a man of principle such an argument can have no 
reight.* His political and parliamentary career continued till 

* " I have seen Sheridan weep two or three times (says Lord Byron) : it may 
e that he was maudlin, but this only rendered it more affecting, for who 
rould see 

' From Marlborough's eyes the tears of dotage flow, 
And Swift expire a driveller and a show ? ' 
" Once 1 saw him cry at Robins, the auctioneer's, after a splendid dinner full 
f great names and high spirits. I had the honor of sitting next to Sheridan. 
The occasion of his tears was some observation on the stanchness of the Whigs 
n resisting office and keeping to their principles. Sheridan turned round : ' Sir, 
.t is easy for my Lord G., or Earl G., or Marquis B., or Lord H., with thousands 
apon thousands a year, some of it either directly derived or inherited in sine- 
cures or acquisitions from the public money, to boast of their patriotism and 
keep aloof from temptation ; but they do not know from what temptations those 



310 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

1812, when he was defeated in his attempt to be returned agair' "• 
from Stafford ; after that period he was but a lonely and helplese 
wreck upon the tempestuous sea of life. He continued to 
cline in public favor, overwhelmed with debt and misery, until 1 ,t1 
at last his career was closed by death in 1816. 

Sheridan's talents were of a multifarious character. Several | 
of his plays, the Rivals, and the School for Scandal, are amon 
the best in English comedy. This was nothing extraordinary, 
inasmuch as he was the son of an actor, had early been made 
familiar with the stage, and had himself been the manager of a. 
theatre. But that such a man should possess talents of the first 
order in the Parliament of a great nation, among many other 
gifted and illustrious men, was one of the intellectual phenomena: 
of modern times. He possessed a warm imagination, a bold and 
intrepid spirit, an intimate acquaintance with human nature, a 
brilliant and pungent wit, an unrivalled quickness of repartee, 
which, though often prepared beforehand, and kept, cut and dried 
in readiness for the first suitable occasion which might offer for its 
use, was always introduced with the best effect, and with excel- 
lent taste ; a style of impassioned, fervid declamation, which 
charmed the ear and led captive the judgment, a sweet and son- 
orous voice, a graceful and appropriate delivery, and an inventive 
genius which enabled him to turn the arguments and authorities 
of his opponents to his own use, and to their discomfiture — these 
were the intellectual and physical resources which rendered this 
weak, vacillating, and miserable man one of the most dis- 
tinguished ornaments of the British Parliament. He was not a 
great statesman, nor any statesman at all ; for he originated no 
measure of importance. He was not adapted to exercise the 
supreme command of a party ; but was admirably fitted to fill 
the post of a lieutenant-general under such able leaders as Fox 
and Burke.* He was to these men what Murat and Ney were 

have kept aloof who had equal pride, at least equal talent, and not unequal pas- 
sions, and nevertheless knew not, in the course of their lives, what it was to 
have a shilling of their own ; and in saying this lie wept." Manuscript Diary 
of Lord Byron, p. 57. 

* " When Fox was asked what he thought the best speech he had ever heard, 



LIFE AXD KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIED. 311 

o Napoleon : perhaps he might even claim such eminent relation 
o them as that which Davoust and Massena bore to the tri- 
impbant Corsican. His most splendid displays of eloquence 
vcre those made in connection with the trial of Warren Hastings, 
lis sparkling and brilliant declamation on that memorable occa- 
sion charmed and delighted the vast audience which crowded 
Westminster Hall, and bore a favorable comparison even with 
he speeches of Burke. This is the bright side of this strange 
picture. The personal habits of this versatile and gifted man 
yere exceedingly gross and low. He was greatly addicted to 
ntemperance ; and his pecuniary embarrassments, and the ridic- 
ilous or dishonest expedients to which they led him, rendered 
lim the laughing stock of a nation who willingly admired his 
brilliant genius, and praised his stupendous abilities. 

Having thus dwelt at some length upon the most eminent 
statesmen of the reign of George III., a shorter notice will suffice 
for those of inferior abilities and importance. William Windham 
ranked next after those already considered. His mind was re- 
markable for its shrewd and crafty tendency, which made him 
cautious and prudent, and deprived him of the boldness and self- 
reliance necessary to a great party leader. He was exceedingly 
handsome in his person, singularly chivalrous and courtly in his 
manners, and his speeches were marked by a superior degree of 
ability. Their prevalent tone was that of familiar conversation ; 
which of course deprived them of the power and ardor which 
fervid declamation always gives even to orations of inferior 
merit. His mental calibre was secondary ; and his fondness for 
paradox sometimes rendered his opinions dangerous and unreli- 
able. His political career achieved for him the esteem of his 
countrymen : neither his talents nor their praise ascended to the 
highest range, or placed him in the loftiest niche. 

One other man deserves to be ranked in this bright and select 

he replied — Sheridan's on the impeachment of Hastings, in the House of Com- 
mons, (not that in Westminster Hall.) When asked what he thought of his own 

speech on the breaking out of the war, he replied, ' That was a d d good 

speech too.' I heard this from Lord Holland." Lord Byron's MS. 



312 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

category, over a part of whose fame a singular mystery hangs : 
Stat nominis umbra. Sir Philip Francis was a man of superior 
ability ; though not of a popular or brilliant description. He 
first distinguished himself in India as the ablest and most unyield- 
ing enemy of Warren Hastings ; and after his return to England 
his influence in Parliament, and his concealed power as the author 
of the famous " Letters of Junius," rendered him still more in 
portant. Francis possessed a wide range of thought, a retentive 
memory, a classical taste, and great force and energy of expressions 
His chief defect was his bitter acrimony of spirit, which charac- 
terized every thing he said and did. He was tall and thin ini 
person, and his somewhat repulsive and sharp features seemed a: 
fitting indication of the quality of his spirit. An intimate ac- 
quaintance of the man, for friends he had none, declared that he 
never saw him smile. As a speaker he was quick and awkward 
in his gestures, but forcible, unadorned, and effective. " I am 
not an old man," said he, when opposing Pitt's famous India Bill, 
" yet I remember the time when such a proposition would have 
roused the whole country into a flame. Had the experiment 
been made when the illustrious statesman, the late Earl of Chat- 
ham, enjoyed a seat in this assembly, he would have sprung from " 
the bed of sickness, he would have solicited some friendly hand 
to lay him on the floor, and thence with a monarch's voice he 
would have called the whole kingdom to arms to oppose it. But 
he is dead, and has left nothing in the world that resembles him. 
He is dead, and the sense, the honor, the character, and the un- 
derstanding of the nation are dead with him." The effect of this 
passage is said to have been prodigious and lasting. 

One of the great enigmas of English history is the question 
whether Francis was Junius 1 There is a flood of preponderating 
evidence in favor of the supposition which, in the absence of 
direct proof on either side, is almost conclusive. Every senti- 
ment contained in the Letters corresponds with what were known 
to be the opinions of Francis. The style, which is so peculiar, is 
precisely his own — that polished, condensed, epigrammatic style, 
which has elicited so much praise which it does not deserve. 



LD7E AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIRD. 313 

For the reader who carefully scrutinizes those celebrated produc- 
tions will readily discover that the author has only one way of 
treating all subjects ; that he uniformly constructs his sentences 
so that they may be most expressive and telling, without any re- 
gard to the question whether truth will in all cases justify the 
superlative phrases which he uses ; that his savage invectives 
would be just as appropriate to one bad minister as to another ; 
and that, on the whole, a hard, malicious, vindictive spirit filled 
with inimicitia contra omnes homines, lurks beneath his polished 
yet virulent periods. Some writers have asserted that the only 
objection to the supposition that Francis was Junius, is to be 
found in the fact that his vanity would not have allowed him to 
conceal his authorship of so celebrated a production.* But the 
author had ample reasons for keeping the secret till his dying 
day. He had libelled some of the best men of his time, and 
even some of the worst. He had shamefully slandered Lord 
Mansfield, the brightest ornament of the British judiciary ; he 
'lad almost broken the heart of the amiable and learned Black- 
tone ; he had trampled the Duke of Grafton, Sir William Dra- 
per, and Home Tooke in the very dust.f All the public men of 
England regarded the issue of a new number of the " Public Adver- 
ser " as the advent of a thunderbolt which might strike, no one 
ould foretell whom. Though Junius was the professed advocate of 
)opular rights, and was a defender of that vile and filthy baboon 
jreorge Wilkes, he was feared and detested by the nation ; and 
lad his identity become known, he would never have died in his 
>ed. Apprehensions so well founded overbalanced the vanity of 
rancis, and constrained him to bury the secret of Junius with 
dm in the eternal silence of the tomb. J 

* Wraxall, in his Posthumous Memoirs, makes this assertion. 

t Sir William Draper died with only one ardent wish ungratified ; that he 
light discover who Junius was, and then bathe his sword in his heart's blood, 
or did he keep this purpose by any means a secret. 

X One of the contemporary journals charged Francis with being the author of 
unius ; and he denied the charge in so ambiguous a manner as in effect to give 
;rength to the suspicion : " Sir, you have attributed to me the writing of 
unius's letters. If you choose to propagate a false and malicious report, you 
14 



314 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

The other prominent statesmen who adorned the reign of 
George III. were Wilberforce, the great opponent of the slave 
trade, Lord Grenville, Mr. Dundas, Mr. Perceval, and Mr. Can- 
ning ; though the last and "Wilberforce belong more properly to 
the era of George IV. The reign of George III. was prolific of 
great jurists ; for then flourished the matchless Mansfield, the 
strong-minded but profane Thurlow, the coarse and uneducated 
yet indefatigable. Kenyon, the stern and unbending Loughborough, 
the precise and accurate Chief Justice Gibbs, the logical Sir 
William Grant, and last, but among the greatest, the eloquent 
and graceful Lord Erskine. Another remarkable character be- 
longs to this era, who was neither statesman, lawyer, judge, noi 
orator, yet holds no obscure place among the celebrities of his 
time. This was Horace Walpole, the author of the " Castle of 
Otranto," and the witty, elegant, gossipping writer of Letters 
which have not lost their value or their attractiveness even ir 
our own time. He was born in 1717, and was the third and 
youngest son of Robert Walpole. He was educated at Eton anc 
Cambridge. After leaving the university he travelled over 
Europe, accompanied during part of his tour by the poet Gray. 
In Italy he gratified his love of art and of antiquarian literature 
by the study and inspection of the great monuments of bothl, 
which there exist. He returned home, and possessing an aniph 
fortune, he entered Parliament in his twenty -fourth year. Ht, 
soon wearied of the rude storms of parliamentary life, and re 
tired, determined to spend his days in elegant and intellectua 
trifling. He purchased a mansion named Strawberry Hill, anc 
proceeded to alter and adorn the building according to his fancifu 
and eccentric taste. He crowded the grounds with grottoes 
statuary, and miniature temples. He filled the house with nick 

may. Tours, &c." Burke never wrote the letters of Junius, because he hat 
more amplitude and variety of style. It was not Wilkes, for he had less abilit; 
than the letters display. It was not Dunning, for he would not have made th 
blunders in law which Junius committed. Single-Speech Hamilton had not th 
necessary energy and courage. Home Tooke is himself assailed by Junius, an> 
himself replies to him. Every probability and every argument cluster aroun 
Sir Philip Francis, and fix on him the indelible brand. 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 315 

nacks, gimcracks, rarities, and curiosities of every description. 
He collected specimens in every department of art ; missals 
illuminated with great care ; sculptures and vases by Benvenuto 
Cellini ; portraits of distinguished people of all ages and coun- 
tries ; marbles and bronzes of every style ; collections of coins, 
crockery, all kinds of bijouterie from every country under heaven ; 
and a handsome and rare collection of books, plates, old and odd 
furniture, and antique armor. He devoted his life to the perfec- 
tion of this strange assortment, and to the several literary works 
which he published. In 1791 he succeeded his nephew in the 
Earldom of Orford ; and he died at last in 1797, in the eightieth 
year of his age, after a long career of pleasure, cheerfulness 
and amusement.* His talents were such that, in spite of his 
strange eccentricities, his name occupies no insignificant place in 
the contemporary history of George III. 

The era of this monarch was rendered remarkable by the many 
eminent men in literature who then flourished. Though he him- 
self furnished but little patronage to that department of intellec- 
tual endeavor, it advanced and produced abundant fruits without 
his aid, and in spite of his apathy. The most eminent historians 
of this period were Gibbon, Hume and Robertson. Gibbon was 
born at Putney in Surrey, in 1737. His father was a man of 
affluence and a member of Parliament. In his fifteenth year he 
went to Oxford university, where he was distinguished for his 
discursive reading and his habits of dissipation. This career was 

* At his Strawberry Hill press were printed his " Anecdotes of Painting 
lEngraving, and the Arts in England ; " " Historic Doubts of the Life and Eeign 
of Richard III.," a work that excited in its time much attention ; " The Myste- 
rious Mother," a tragedy ; " A Catalogue of the Royal and Noble Authors of 
England ; " " jEdes Walpoliana, or a Description of the House of Sir Robert 
Walpole, at Houghton ; " with others of less importance, but still sought after 
With avidity by bibliomaniacs, for the peculiarity of their contents. 

But it is upon his Letters chiefly that the posthumous fame of Horace Wal- 
pole rests. He was a gossip of the first order. " His epistolary talents," as 
Miss Berry has said, " have shown our language to be capable of all the grace 
and all the charms of the French of Madame de Sevigne ; " and if to tittle-tattle 
upon paper gracefully, be a merit, Horace Walpole cannot be denied to have 
attained that flattering distinction. 



316 HISTOKT OF THE FOTTK GEOKGES. 

soon ended by his becoming a papist, and his removal from the 
university by his incensed father. To rid him of his Catholic 
tendencies he was sent to reside at Lausanne, in the family of a 
Protestant clergyman, who became his tutor in classical and 
historical studies. In 1758 his father permitted him to returr 
to England. In 1761 he published his first work, an Essai sm 
V Etude de la Litlerature. In 1763 he again returned to the con 
tinent, visited Eome, and there, while seated meditatively amidj 
the crumbling ruins of the Capitol, he first conceived the idea of 
writing the work which has since rendered his name immortal 
He revisited England in 1770, and was even a member of Par- 
liament for several years before he published the first volume of 
his Decline and Eall of the Roman Empire. His attention was 
wholly occupied in the completion of this immense and elaborate 
production from 1768 till 1787, during the greater part of whicl 
interval he resided on the continent at Lausanne. He returnee 
to England to visit his intimate friend Lord Sheffield, in 1793 
and died in London in the commencement of the following year 
This celebrated writer was characterized by a cold and phlegmatic; 
temperament, and was induced to labor only by the overwhelm- 
ing pressure of his vanity and ambition. He was one of the 
most learned men of his time ; his intellectual treasures were 
rich, vast and varied ; and his literary sagacity enabled him te 
use his resources to the best advantage. In sentiment he was 
an infidel, and had imbibed the opinion that sincere belief in anj 
form of religion was an impossibility to the enlightened and untram- 
melled human mind. His great history is the ablest and most dan 
gerous opponent to Christianity, because an indirect and an unde 
clared one, which modern literature presents. It is rich and elabo 
rate with various learning, and filled with acute and sagacious ob 
servations. It is polished with scrupulous care, and loaded witl 
excessive ornament. One of its defects is that it labors to de 
grade and deride whatever is noblest and most heroic in humai 
conduct and character ; and places the worst aspects of humanity 
in the boldest prominence. It teaches no great ethical lessons, o: 
dogmatic truths ; but endeavors to confound and obliterate th 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 317 

distinction between virtue and vice, and thereby create contempt 
for all religion and moral principle. Gibbon himself was a dis- 
ciple of Voltaire, and entertained the same opinions in morals, 
literature, philosophy and religion, which characterized that 
gifted and witty Frenchman. The subject of his history was an 
admirable one, and had it been executed with virtue, honesty and 
benevolence, equal to the genius and erudition which it evinces, 
it would have been a monument to his fame and reputation nobler 
than that possessed by any modern writer. In tracing the 
progress and fortunes of the Christian church he divests the 
noblest and best institution which the world has ever seen, of all 
its sublimer attributes, renders every thing commonplace and 
mean, infuses the deadly poison of doubt, ridicule, and unbelief 
into every event and development ; and while he paints the 
beastly and voluptuous Mahomet with all the luxuriance of Ital- 
ian art, and exalts the weak and perfidious Julian to the highest 
niche in the temple of glory, he degrades Constantine and Theodo- 
sius into ridiculous, short-sighted and imbecile personages. But 
in spite of all its great defects, the unquestionable merits of an 
intellectual kind which the Decline and Fall of Rome contains, 
will secure it a permanent place in the first rank of the achieve- 
ments in English literature. 

Hume chose a less gorgeous and brilliant theme as the sub- 
ject of his labors ; and his mental qualities were well adapted to 
the nature of his task. With competent learning he possessed 
a deep knowledge of the old philosophical systems, had studied 
the relations between the ideal and the material world, the laws 
of testimony and historical authority ; and he wrote therefore, not 
for technical readers or verbal critics, but for statesmen, for 
intelligent observers of men and events, who desired to probe 
to the real foundation and causes of things, and not to be satisfied 
with the mere surface. His style is unadorned, clear, strong and 
forcible. Though belonging to the school of philosophical infidels 
he did not obtrude his sentiments continually throughout his his- 
tory ; and though he did not admire the Puritans, or the early 
defenders of the Protestant faith in the north of Europe, he 



318 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

never follovrs them and the cause which they supported with tli€ 
perpetual sneer and the insatiable enmity which Gibbon displays 
on every page against the Christian cause and name. 

Robertson's characteristics were different from those of both, 
his rivals. His History of Charles V. indicates that laborious 
mediocrity which elicits no new ideas, or considers human conduct 
and opinion under any new or original aspect. He wrote, not 
for the thinking few, who closely scrutinize and examine, but 
for the great mass and multitude of men, who, though educated) 
are never thorough or profound in their researches or reflections^ 
His style is smooth and correct, his opinions are always moder- 
ate, and cautious of trenching on extravagances or extremes ofl 
any kind, and he writes and thinks with the mechanical accuracy 
and uniformity of a practised advocate or preacher. He was: 
nominally a believer in the Christian faith, and was a distin-i 
guished member of the Scotch Church ; but in reality he was ani 
infidel or at least skeptical, as a passage in one of his letters to 
Gibbon clearly indicates.* He was probably more eminent as a 
pulpit orator and a controversialist in the Scottish General As- 
sembly, than as a historian. 

During the reign of George III. the most eminent writer in jjo- 
litical economy and philosophy of modern times lived and flour- 
ished. Adam Smith, the author of the Wealth of Nations, was 
a Scotchman by birth. He was stolen by gypsies in his third 
year, but was fortunately recovered before the captors had 
escaped with their prey. He passed three years at the univer- 
sity of Glasgow, and thence proceeded to Oxford. At eighteen 
years of age he published his " Colonial Policy," which, for so 
young an author, exhibited remarkable abilities. In 1748 he 
settled in Edinburgh, and during three years read a course of 
lectures on Rhetoric. His associates at this period were Hume, 
Robertson, and Wedderburne. In 1751 he was elected to the 
professorship of Logic in the university of Glasgow, which was 
afterward exchanged for that of Moral Philosophy. In 1759 he- 
published his Theory of Moral Sentiments, which never obtained 

* See Westminster Review, September, 1845, p. 52. 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOEGE TIIE THIED. 319 

much influence or celebrity. The rest of his life was devoted to 
the elaboration of the chief monument of his fame, his work on 
Political Economy. During its composition he corresponded 
with Turgot, D'Alembert, Necker, and other French philoso- 
phers, in reference to the principles involved in the work. He 
even visited France to facilitate his researches. On his return 
he shut himself up for ten years in his study at Kirkaldy, and in 
1776 he published as the perfected fruit of his labors his " Inquiry 
into the Causes and Nature of the Wealth of Nations." The 
immediate and subsequent success of the work was very great ; 
and it still remains an undisputed classic in that important and 
abstruse branch of literature. 

Some eminent poets flourished during this protracted reign, the 
most distinguished of whom were Johnson, Shenstone, Churchill, 
Young, Akenside, Gray, Goldsmith and Cowper. The Task, the 
Night Thoughts, the Elegy, the Deserted Village, and the Vanity 
of Human Wishes, are gems in English literature of unsurpassed 
beauty and value, which have gained the admiration and familiar 
knowledge of reading persons of both sexes throughout the civil- 
ized world. To expatiate further upon their merits were a 
superfluous labor. 

George III. was the patron of good morals, and during his 
reign he endeavored to repress the boldness and the prevalence 
of vice ; but the state of the Established Church was not such as 
to indicate the existence of much piety among its members. A 
few incidents will prove the truth of this assertion. Dr. Corn- 
wallis, Archbishop of Canterbury, gave great offense to the few 
pious persons in the Church by his worldliness and love of pleas- 
ure. He frequently entertained fashionable and dissipated com- 
pany in the palace of Lambeth, at which times excesses of frivol- 
ity and indecorum were permitted, which were scandalous in a 
churchman of his rank and office. The wife of the Archbishop, 
an elegant and magnificent woman, and the leader of the fashionable 
circle, aided and perhaps tempted to the occurrence of these events. 
Lady Huntingdon, a person of true piety and reforming zeal, con- 
veyed intelligence of these scandalous proceedings to the king ; 



320 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

and the latter was so incensed at details which, upon further in- 
quiry, he found to be true, that he wrote the Eight Reverend 
offender a letter condemning his conduct, and giving him very 
plainly to understand that a reformation was indispensably neces- 
sary.* Even Queen Charlotte censured the conduct of the 
prelate, and remarked, that it was a pity that Lady Huntingdon 
could not be made a bishop, for if she were, her piety and zeal 
would reprove more than one incumbent on the bench. 

As were the prelates, such in a great measure were the in- 
ferior clergy. At a drawing room held by the queen in 1777, 
Cumberland, who was present, asserts that a nobleman had his 
order, which was encircled with diamonds worth seven hundred 
pounds snatched from his ribbon ; and he believed the theft to 
have been committed by a clergyman who stood near him, but 
one of such high position that he did not dare to charge him 
with it. A similar attempt was made on a similar occasion to 
tear off the diamond guard of the sword of the Prince of Wales, 
which was of great value ; and in this instance the known but 
unpunished offender was a clergyman of the Established Church. 
Dr. Dodd received no mercy from the king when convicted of 
forgery and condemned to death, inasmuch as the monarch was 
resolved to make an impressive example of him to the recreant 
order of men to whom he belonged. Their notorious vices and 
unworthiness led to the beneficent reforms introduced by Wesley 

" My good Lord Primate,— I could not delay giving you the notification of 
the grief and concern with which my breast was affected at receiving authentic 
information that routs had made their way into your palace. At the same time, 
I must signify to you my sentiments on this subject, which hold these levities 
and vain dissipations as utterly inexpedient, if not unlawful, to pass in a resi- 
dence for many centuries devoted to divine studies, religious retirement, and 
the extensive exercise of charity and benevolence ; I add, in a place where so 
many of your predecessors have led their lives in such sanctity as has thrown 
lustre on the pure religion they professed, and adorned. From the dissatisfac- 
tion with which you must perceive I behold these improprieties, not to speak in 
harsher terms, and in still more pious principles, I trust you will suppress them 
immediately ; so that I may not have occasion to show any further marks of my 
displeasure, or to interpose in a different manner. May God take your grace 
into his almighty protection ! I remain, my lord primate, your gracious friend. 

"G. R." 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 321 

and Whitefield ; the monuments of whose innovating zeal remain 
until this day, and will be coeval with the duration of the 
British empire. 

Having thus concluded our survey of the events of the reign 
of George III., we may sum up the review by saying, that this 
monarch exhibited many serious defects of character ; that he 
was narrow-minded, prejudiced, and obstinate beyond measure ; 
that this peculiarity led him sometimes to adhere to ill-advised 
measures with a perseverance and pertinacity which injured his 
popularity, sometimes even endangered his throne, and cursed 
his subjects ; but that, on the other hand, he possessed some very 
great merits, more of the heart than of the head ; that he was 
ever disposed to govern his dominions in accordance with consti- 
tutional law, and while he asserted the full extent of his prerog- 
atives, never wishing to transcend them ; that he was virtuous 
in an age of prevalent vice ; that he was pious and devout at a 
period when even priests and bishops threw scandal on their pro- 
fession by their worlclliness and profligacy ; and that generally, 
it was his conscientious desire, but not always his realized end, 
to act with honesty, consistency and justice. 



14* 



PART IV. 

LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 



CHAPTER I. 

Birth of George IV. — Congratulations on the Event — His Early Education — His Talents 
— His Disposition — His Connection with Miss Darby — Her History — Frantic Ad- 
miration of the Prince — Incidents of their Attachment — The Prince removes to 
Carlton House — His Peculiar Manner of Making Love — His Connection with Mrs. 
Crouch — He becomes the Admirer of Mrs. Fitzherbert — Her Origin and History — 
Her Extraordinary Beauty — She is privately Married to the Prince — Their Resi- 
dence together — Unprincipled denial of their Marriage in Parliament by orders of 
the Prince — Mrs. Fitzherbert's Indignation at his Perfidy — Immense Debts of the 
Prince — They are paid by an Appropriation of Parliament. 

George, Prince of Wales, afterward George IV., was born on 
the 12th of August, 1762. The great officers of state were pres- 
ent, according to the established etiquette of courts, when an heir 
to the throne appeared. Immediately after the birth the pro- 
pitious event was announced to the inmates of the palace. The 
multitude who then thronged all the avenues to St. James's, eager 
with expectation, received the news with the utmost enthusiasm ; 
and in an hour it flew over the whole capital, and travelled with 
the rapidity of the wind to the extremities of the island. The 
popularity of George III., which had for some months been 
strangely on the wane, was immensely increased, and general 
congratulation gave expression to the universal joy ; which was 
increased by the significant accident that the heir apparent first 
saw the light on the anniversary of the accession of the House of 
Hanover to the British sceptre. Before the nation were delivered 



324 HISTOET OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

from this prince, they had ample time and reason to moderate 
the ardor of their felicitations at his advent.* 

Innumerable letters and speeches of congratulation -were ad- 
dressed to the father of the august child, by all the corporations 
in the kingdom, which were filled with the rhapsodic flattery and 
absurd adulation which usually characterize such productions. 
The public life of the young prince began at a very early age ; 
for when only three years old, he received a deputation from the 
Society of Ancient Britons on St. David's Day. In the same 
year he was invested with the Order of the Garter. 

In 1771 the education of the Prince of Wales began. He 
was placed under the control of Lord Holdernesse as governor, 
Dr. Markham as preceptor, and Cyril Jackson as sub-preceptor. 
Markham was at that time at the head of the celebrated School 
at Westminster. His first inquiry of the king when he accepted 
his office as tutor to the prince was, " How would your Majesty 
have him treated 1 " George III. answered, " Like the sons of any 
private English gentleman. If he deserves it, let him be flogged, 
just as you used to do at Westminster." This order was obeyed 
to the letter, and the princely back of the young student was 
made to smart more than once by the energetic and conscientious 
discipline of the tutor. But after the lapse of some time the gov- 
ernor and preceptors of the prince resigned, in consequence of 
the adverse influence exerted by the paramour and favorite of 
the Dowager Princess of Wales ; whose purpose was to instil 
into the mind of the child more absolute and conservative 
ideas than accorded with the will of the king and his most 

* The infant was created Prince of Wales a few days after his birth ; for the 
eldest son of the British monarch does not possess that title by inheritance but 
by creation. This ancient title was one of the trophies connected with the con- 
quest of Llewellyn, and was first conferred by the first Edward upon his eldest 
son and heir, in 1284, with the usual ceremonies of investiture by cap, coronet, 
verge and ring. The eldest son of the king becomes, by inheritance, Steward 
of Scotland, Duke of Rothsay, Earl of Carrick, and Baron of Renfrew. These 
titles belonged, before the union of England and Scotland, to the heir apparent 
of the latter kingdom. The Prince of Wales is born Duke of Cornwall, and 
possessor of the revenues of that duchy. Hume's History of England, Yol. ii., 
p. 141. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 325 

trusted advisers. The Duke of Montague was then appointed 
governor of the prince ; Bishop Hurd and the Rev. Mr. Arnold, 
preceptor and sub-preceptor. The Bishop was a man of feeble 
character, who permitted his pupil to study and to do whatever 
he pleased. On one occasion he attempted to administer much 
needed discipline after the manner of Dr. Markham. But the 
prince and his brother the Duke of York, who was also a pupil 
of the Bishop, conspired together, and by a vigorous and united 
coup-de-main wrested the rod from his grasp, turned on him, and 
laid it upon his own back so effectively that bodily punishment 
was never afterward attempted.* But the education of the heir 
apparent was accurate and thorough. Few princes attained the 
same degree of familiarity with classical learning, or the same 
extent of proficiency in mathematical and natural sciences. On 
one occasion, at a much later period, he quoted half a page of 
Homer's Iliad in the original, correctly and without premedita- 
tion ; and he understood Latin, French, and German with the fa- 
cility of a mother tongue. These accomplishments were abso- 
lutely necessary to complete the character of the " first Gentle- 
man in Europe," to which dignity he always aspired, and which 
he undoubtedly attained. 

In 1791, when at the age of nineteen, the prince was released 
from the control of his instructors. He was one of the handsom- 
est and most graceful youths to be found in the kingdom. He 
was tall, vigorous and well proportioned. His figure possessed 
a combination of beauty, intelligence and good health, which 
was highly attractive and pleasing ; and it may readily be sup- 
posed that his exalted rank, and his brilliant prospects as the 
heir apparent to one of the greatest monarchies on the globe, 
surrounded him with flatterers, temptations and seductions of- 
every imaginable description. In due time the subject of his 
separate provision was brought before Parliament, and after con- 
siderable discussion, fifty thousand pounds were voted him as 
an income, and one hundred thousand for an outfit. Thus amply 
provided with means, the young man, whose passions were of 

* See Oroh/s Life and Times of George IV., p. 59. 



326 HISTORY OF THE FOTTE GEOKGES. 

the most vehement nature, commenced one of the most remark- 
able careers recorded in the checkered annals of princes. In 
three short years, which were passed in the whirlpool of London 
vice and sensual pleasure, his ruin was completed. He plunged 
into every sort of dissipation ; and before long the virtuous 
Queen Charlotte, his mother, was astonished and horrified at the 
information that he had taken Miss Darby or Mrs. Robinson, 
the most beautiful actress of the day, as his acknowledged mis- 
tress. 

This young lady was born at Bristol in 1758, and would have 
been rich had not her father wasted his large fortune in an insane 
speculation, one essential ingredient of which was the civilization 
of the Esquimaux Indians. She had been a pupil of Hannah 
More ; and had devoted some time to the laborious and thank- 
less labors of an instructress. She was singularly handsome, and 
among her other attractions, she was a most graceful dancer. 
By some accident she crossed the path of Garrick ; she pleased the 
modern Roscius, and he gave her some instructions in the dra- 
matic art. Her first appearance was under his auspices, at the 
Covent Garden Theatre, in the character of Cordelia. In her six- 
teenth year she married Mr. Robinson, a clerk in an attorney's 
office, who possessed a handsome fortune. But this was soon 
wasted by extravagance and mismanagement. The husband was 
arrested for debt, and his wife spent fifteen months with him 
in prison. At length the stern demands of necessity again drove 
her to the stage. Her great beauty and her considerable talents 
soon rendered her the favorite actress of the day. During some 
time she permitted her husband to live in luxury on the earnings 
of her labors ; and refused many offers from opulent and princely 
admirers on condition that she would separate from him. All 
these she refused, until in December, 1779, the young Prince of 
Wales first saw her. She played the part of Perdifa, in the 
Winter's Tale, on that occasion, in the presence of the whole 
royal family. Her appearance and manner are represented as 
having been bewitching ; and the young prince became frantic- 
ally enamored of her. He sent a note to the fair charmer, signed 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 327 

Florizel, by the hand of the Earl of Essex, containing the most 
rapturous flatteries ; which was delivered her the moment she 
reached her dressing room. So brilliant a conquest it was 
scarcely in the heart of woman to refuse. An interview was 
contrived between them in the gardens of the palace at Kew, by 
moonlight ; of which interview there was but one other witness, 
the brother of the prince. The consequence, as might have been 
expected, was an intrigue of some duration, of intense devotion 
on the part of the lovers, and of considerable scandal on the side 
of the public. Among other acts of folly the prince gave the 
young lady a bond for twenty thousand pounds, to be paid when 
he came of age. But when that period arrived the ardor of the 
lover had cooled, other flames consumed his inflammable and incon- 
stant breast, and he refused to liquidate the sum nominated in the 
bond. The lady flew into paroxysms of rage and despair ; and 
to avoid further disgrace and exposure, an annuity of five hun- 
dred pounds a year was eventually settled upon her. With this 
sum she retired to Paris, lived in some splendor there, and even 
attracted the notice of Marie Antoinette, who honored her with 
the epithet of La belle Anglaise, and presented her with a purse 
knit by the hand of the daughter of the Coesars. She devoted 
some of her time to literature, and produced several novels and ro- 
mances, all of which now quietly slumber in oblivion. She sub- 
sequently undertook to superintend the poetical department of 
the Morning Post, but died after a few months, in 1800. Such 
was the history of the first notorious connection of the Prince of 
Wales ; which was but the beginning of a long series of similar 
offences, which continued with greater or less publicity until an 
advanced period of his life. 

When the prince received his separate income from Parliament, 
in 1783, he took possession of Carlton House as his residence. 
This palace had been the abode of Frederic, his grandfather. It 
had originally been built in 1709 by Lord Carlton, and had been 
embellished and enlarged at various subsequent periods. The 
prince employed the architect Holland to effect other changes and 
improvements. Ionic screens, Corinthian porticoes, and various 



328 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

ornaments were added ; and an air of great luxury, so consonant 
with the tastes of the possessor at that time, was thrown over 
the whole. In 1783 the prince first took his seat in the Housei 
of Lords. He was attended on this occasion by the Dukes of 
Cumberland, Portland and Richmond, and was regarded as the 
friend and patron, from the day of his entrance into Parliament, 
of Fox, Sheridan and the opposition. His seat in the house 
was, however, rarely occupied. More attractive pursuits drew him 
elsewhere. He hunted the phantom pleasure in every possible 
form, and squandered immense sums of money in his pursuit 
of it. Gaming, horse-racing, and every imaginable species of dis- 
sipation were indulged in ; and soon the public were astonished 
and amused to learn, that the heir apparent supported in mag- 
nificent style at least two acknowledged mistresses ; and that 
many casual and temporary attachments claimed and received 
his attention. The two recognized sultanas were Mrs. Crouch, 
an actress of beauty and talent, and the well-known Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert. 

The manner and demeanor of the prince in his intercourse 
with women, and in making love, were so peculiar as to deserve 
narration. He became silly and contemptible. When refused 
he proclaimed himself to be in despair, and wept in the most 
ridiculous and farcical manner, rolling on the floor, striking his 
forehead, tearing his hair, and using other excesses of the same 
description. When he first declared his passion to Mrs. Fitz- 
herbert, and was courteously repelled, he pretended to go frantic, 
swore that he would abandon the country, that he would renounce 
the succession, that he would sell every thing and fly to America. 
To get rid of his absurdities and importunities, Mrs. Fitzherbert 
fled to the continent. After a short absence she returned. The 
desperate passion of her lover had lost none of its intensity. He 
again did his best to win her favor. To render his person more 
interesting and attractive he phlebotomized himself; and then 
asserted that the pangs of an unquenchable and unrequited pas- 
sion had made him pale and thin. At length, when he found that 

* See BorarCs Queens of the House of Hanover, Vol. ii., p. 87. 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FOURTH. 329 

nothing else would influence the really attractive and beautiful 
woman of whom he was so desperately enamored, he proposed 
to marry her secretly, though he well knew that as Mrs. Fitzher- 
bert was a Roman Catholic, such a marriage was illegal accord- 
ing to one of the statutes of the realm ; and also because the 
union would take place, if at all, without the king's consent, and 
before the prince had attained the age of twenty -five. The lady, 
it appears, was not influenced by any such scruples, and she 
finally consented to become the morganitic wife of her enamored 
and frantic admirer. The ceremony was performed secretly by 
a clergyman of the Established Church, whose name, and those 
of two attending witnesses, were attached to the certificate which 
still remains in the possession of the lady's family. 

Mrs. Fitzherbert was the daughter of William Smythe of 
Tonge Castle. Her family were connected with the nobility, and 
were all highly esteemed. When very young she married Mr. 
Weld, of Lul worth Castle. After his death she was united to 
Fitzherbert of Swinnerton, who died in 1780. She was educated 
in the Roman Catholic faith. Her reputation was unblemished 
until her connection with the prince began. She was one of the 
most beautiful women of her time. Her appearance was majes- 
tic, and her form and features were faultless. She retained her 
hold on the affections of her unprincipled and worthless lover 
longer than any other woman ; and he always treated her, even 
after their separation, with courtesy and respect. After the sub- 
sequent marriage of the prince to the unfortunate Caroline of 
Brunswick, a pension of six thousand pounds a year was settled 
on her ; and she survived to enjoy it long after the death of the 
prince, until she had nearly reached the age of eighty years. 
Even after her husband had carried on a notorious and disgrace- 
ful intrigue with Lady Jersey, he still regarded " Mrs. Prince," 
as she was usually called, with the greatest deference ; and spoke 
of her in terms very different from those which he applied to all 
the other women, whose name indeed was legion, with whom he 
had been connected.* 

* See Diary Illustrative of the Court of George IV. ; with Letters of 



330 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

The expensive habits of living in which the prince indulged, 
soon involved him deeply in debt. In 1787, notwithstanding the 
liberal allowance made by Parliament for his support, his obliga- 
tions amounted to a hundred and fifty thousand pounds. At a 
later period, in 1792, they reached the prodigious sum of four 
hundred thousand pounds. The subject became one of public 
scandal and scrutiny. Carlton House was known to be the con- 
tinual scene of the most lavish and reckless luxury. In April, 
1787, the matter of the prince's debts was for the first time in- 
troduced into Parliament. The Opposition contended that his 
income should be increased and the accumulated debts paid. 
The minister, Mr. Pitt, responded that he had received no com- 
mands from the king on the subject. In the course of the subse- 
quent debate, the minister made some allusion to the marriage 
which, it was commonly rumored, had taken place between the 
prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert, as being one of the guilty and cen- 
surable causes of the prince's embarrassments. Mr. Pox re- 
sponded by denying in the most positive manner, and as by 
authority from the prince himself, that any marriage had taken 
place between him and the lady in question. This denial was 
supported by Sheridan and other leading members of the Oppo- 
sition. Yet these assertions could not overturn the reality of 
truth ; for the marriage itself, though perhaps illegal and invalid, 
had actually and infallibly taken place. After the discussion had 
continued for several days, a compromise was effected between 
the ministry and the friends of the prince. The king addressed 
a message to Parliament, in which having set forth the pecuniary 
difficulties of his son, he proposed that the sum of ten thousand 
pounds should be paid yearly out of the civil list, in addition to 
the fifty thousand already allowed ; and that his existing debts 
should be liquidated by an appropriation. The Parliament gen- 
erously concurred in the royal proposition, and suggested that 
twenty thousand pounds should be granted in addition, to pay 
for necessary repairs on Carlton House. Thus, for a time at 

Queen Caroline, Princess Charlotte, &c. London : 4 vols., 1839. Vol. iii., 
p. 174. 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 331 

least, the self-caused embarrassments of this lavish voluptuary 
were removed.* 

* The following statement of the private affairs of the prince was officially 
presented to Parliament on this occasion : 

Debts. 

Bonds and debts ... £13,000 

Purchase of houses 4,000 

Expenses of Carlton House 53,000 

Tradesmen's bills 90,804 

£160,804 
Expenditure from July, 1783, to July, 1786. 

Household, &c £29,276 

Privy purse 16,050 

Payments made by Col. Hotham, particulars delivered in to his 

Majesty 37,203 

Other extraordinaries 11,406 

£93,636 

Salaries 54,734 

Stables 37,919 

Mr. Kobinson's 7,059 

£193,648 



CHAPTER II. 



Removal of the Prince of Wales to Brighton— His Attachment to Mrs. Fitzherbert— 
His Extravagance — His Marriage proposed to a German Princess — Alleged Inva- 
lidity of his Marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert — His Match with Caroline of Bruns- 
wick Consummated — ner Character and Appearance — Arrival of the Princess in 
England — Her first Interview with her future Husband — Its Unhappy Besult — The 
Marriage Ceremony — Disgraceful Conduct of the Bridegroom — His Eemoval to 
Carlton House — Liquidation of the enormous Debts of the Prince— Domestic Quar- 
rels between the Prince and Princess of Wales — Birth of the Princess Charlotte- 
Final Separation of her Parents. 



In 1787 the prince erected his celebrated country residence at 
Brighton. At that period this spot was nothing more than an 
obscure fishing village ; but the situation was magnificent, com- 
manding a full view of the rolling ocean, being within half a day's 
rapid drive from London, and possessing all the advantages of a 
fertile and pleasing circumjacent country. The location was also 
agreeable to Mrs. Fitzherbert, and of this lady the prince at 
that time was intensely enamored. Whatever she desired was 
attained, even if heaven and earth were moved to accomplish it. 
The prince therefore bought a few acres and began to build. At 
first he intended to construct only a cottage, surrounded by 
shrubbery. This was soon found to be inadequate to the wishes 
of the imperial Sultana, and numerous additions were therefore 
made from time to time. These finally culminated in the edifice 
known as the Pavilion, exhibiting the peculiar and heterogeneous 
style of architecture which has excited the critical humor of hun- 
dreds of tourists. In the comparative seclusion of this peaceful 
abode, the prince, by his own confession, spent some of the hap- 
piest years of his life. The society which graced the sumptuous 



LIFE AOT) REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 333 

saloons of the Pavilion was among the most intellectual and dis- 
tinguished which Europe afforded. Here were frequently found 
such men as Fox, Sheridan, Erskine, Hare and Fitzpatrick, the 
Duchess of Devonshire, the Duchess of Gordon, Curran, the wit- 
tiest of Irishmen, the chivalrous Ponsonby, and many other 
celebrities of the day were habitual visitors there ; while no dis- 
tinguished foreigner who came to England failed to pay his re- 
spects to the splendid and accomplished heir apparent of the 
Empire. The intellectual feasts which such society afforded, no 
less than the exquisite entertainment of a more gross and sensual 
nature which characterized the Pavilion, rendered the privilege 
of an introduction there highly prized and earnestly coveted 
by all classes, not excepting the greatest and noblest in the 
realm. 

During some years the prince continued to live in compara- 
tive repose and retirement with the attractive and congenial 
partner of his existence, either at Brighton or at Carlton House. 
When the first serious attack of insanity overturned for a time 
the intellect of his father, and the Regency question became one 
of paramount prominence and importance, he was drawn from 
his peaceful seclusion to take an active part in the contest which 
ensued between his friends and the partisans of the demented 
monarch. The result of that contest was highly disagreeable to 
the prince ; for, notwithstanding the utmost endeavors of his con- 
federates and supporters in Parliament, he was obliged to be con. 
tent with an arrangement by which, in case of the future repeated 
insanity of the monarch, he would be invested with a regency 
shorn of its powers, hampered in its functions, and restricted in 
its prerogatives. The consequence was, that the prince abandoned 
politics in disgust, and gave himself up more completely to every 
vicious and expensive indulgence. Several years thus spent, 
again involved him in overwhelming pecuniary embarrassments. 
His creditors soon became importunate for payment. The ag- 
gregate of these obligations amounted to the prodigious sum of 
six hundred thousand pounds. It was absolutely necessary both 
for the safety of the princely debtor, and for the credit and dig- 



334 HISTOEY OF THE FOXTi GEOEGEs. 

nity of the royal family, that some provision should be made to 
liquidate this enormous load of indebtedness, and also that some 
-I be taken, by means of which a similar 
dilemma might be avoided in future. 

I: was a: tft in the hi- :he prince, that his 

father conceived the idea of his marriage, and devised the most 
absurd and unfortunate match which has ever occurred in the 
• royal miseries and infamies. The young lady whom 
the king proposed as a wife to his already mated and enamored 
son. was the Princess Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, the daughter 
::er-in-law. the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick. She 
was torn in 1768, and was therefore six years younger than her 
intended husband. In every other respect except the matter of 
age alone, she was wholly unfit for the proposed alliance. Yet 
the king promised that, if his son would marry his cousin, his 
-hould be paid, and he be furnished with a more liberal and 
^tablishment. To this proposal the prince at length 
agreed, harassed and annoyed, as he constantly was. by the im- 
portunities of fa -s, and the indignities to which he was 
frequently subjected. But before we narrate the events connect- 
ed with this marriage, it will be proper to dispose of the lady 
who already claimed to possess the hand as well as the heart of 
the illustrious bridegroom. 

The prince had overcome Mrs. Fitzherbert's repugnance to 
him in the first instance by a contemptible trick. Edward 
Bouverie. his friend, arrived at her residence in great haste and 
.-nation, declaring that he had stabbed himself, and that her 
ce alone could save his life. The young widow imme- 
diately hastened to his bedside, to rescue the hope of a great nation 
from self-murder. When she arrived she found him pale and 
covered with blood ; and he solemnly declared, that unb - 
promised to become his wife, he would destroy himself. She 
could resist no longer ; the Duehe-s of Devonshire furnished the 
ring ; and the frantic lover placed it upon her fair finger, as a 
sacred pledge of marriage. The wounding in this ease was 
said to be really genuine; and Mrs. Fitzherbert frequently 



!_•_ _Ll~T 7.ZZ -I- 7 

'If -- - - ..._.--.-•. . ■- .. . ..j. -_■- _ -a. > 

oiitted, and fled to the continent. Bat I 

be<:az^ ~_ :•; ir-s-tr-i - -. i_-.: JL.-i :■ . ■; : > n - L~ ".- "->.-•; 
Friz..-r. - r.-z-.-li: i. .^1 H Liz-f. vr^ :.--: if:.:- ,:~,t iled 
wi± -_•: ~ >: .--:_ -•.'!.. i- !.--\ -~ .:" l.i.nr^ c izd i--.r. a. 

Th ■:- 

they - - : - 

- 

- - - 



5 

-- - 
- 

- • 

_ - _ - - - 

- 

■d the feet tiiac a miniscer of the 

tz-. .-...::. . _;-" ': _ i •_: .o.l ~ < .:.■_■. .-.■ _: :.. she tavsofths 

_ 
pu': '.:■.* j.c :iia: day. H nie Ebokt <•.■:<; ?f the lady as ._•- ■ . 

apparrcc: ■.:'"' . S :::>:: "^_\ ■- ; :. \ :;•-;• l "_~ . i- _\i.;jol;c. ;r 

esteemed as ace. The first coolness 

vhkh .. 



336 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

embarrassments. But they were soon reconciled ; and, as is uusal 
in such cases, they became more devoted than before. In the 
course of time, however, the malignant star of the handsome and 
intriguing Lady Jersey crossed Mrs. Fitzherbert' s path ; and 
soon she discovered that her talented rival had succeeded raj 
making an impression on her lover's heart. Until this period 
she had always received the greatest kindness and courtesy from 
the royal family ; and the Duke of York was her especial friend. 
When the ascendency of Lady Jersey over the mind of the prince 
had attained a considerable degree of absoluteness, the marriage 
with Caroline of Brunswick was proposed and consummated. 
After the occurrence of this event, Mrs. Fitzherbert separated 
herself entirely from her supposed husband. When the quarrel 
commenced between the prince and princess, the former desired to 
renew his intercourse secretly with his first wife; but she peremp- 
torily repelled him. He commenced a desperate pursuit after her, 
and placed her in a most delicate situation. In this dilemma she 
had recourse to the advice of the highest authority in the Catho- 
lic Church. The Rev. Mr. Nassau was sent to Rome to request 
the guidance of the Holy Father in the matter ; and he returned 
with a Brief in which the Pope gave an answer favorable to the 
suit of the prince, alleging that the marriage with the Princess 
of Brunswick was null and void, in consequence of her own prior 
and indefeasible claims. Assured by this supreme authority, she 
again permitted the society of her impassioned admirer, and con- 
tinued to reside with him during eight years, which she always 
termed the happiest of their union. She was accustomed to de- 
clare that they were very poor, but very merry ; that sometimes 
they could not muster five pounds between them ; but that the 
pleasure of each other's society made ample amends for the 
embarrassments which they were compelled to endure. 

But it was not in the nature of the prince to remain faithful 
to any human being in any relation. The beautiful Marchioness 
of Hertford at length supplanted Mrs. Fitzherbert in the affec- 
tions of her volatile lover. Yet notwithstanding the fact that 
this lady, and even others, attracted the amorous regard of this 



LIFE AKD REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 337 

voluptuous and unprincipled man at different periods of his sub- 
sequent life, they never wholly effaced his kindly remembrance 
and regard for Mrs. Fitzherbert. She seemed to be, till the 
close of his life, the woman with whom his most tender and 
pleasing recollections were associated. When he lay on his 
death-bed, she addressed him a letter full of affection, by which 
his callous heart was deeply impressed. He retained her min- 
iature during his whole lifetime ; it was attached to his person 
when he expired ; and when at last that once graceful and stately 
form was wrapped in cerecloth, and arrayed in the gorgeous 
mockery of funereal trappings for the tomb, the Bishop of Wor- 
cester, who was present, saw that miniature still fastened around 
the neck of the departed king, by a small silver chain ; and with the 
corpse it descended to the grave.* After the accession of Wil- 
liam IV. Mrs. Fitzherbert presented herself before that mon- 
arch ; exhibited to him the evidences of her marriage with the 
former Prince of Wales ; and was duly authorized by him to 
assume the royal livery, and wear the weeds of the widows of the 
sovereigns of England. He invited her to visit him at the familiar 
palace at Brighton, and on her arrival there, handed her out of 
her carriage, and introduced her to the royal family as one of 
their own number. At a subsequent period all the letters and 
papers which related to the connection of this remarkable woman 
with the prince, were by her destroyed ; except a few which were 
deposited for safe keeping in the bank of the Messrs. Coutts, and 
several others which she retained in her own possession. The 
latter were her mortgage on the palace at Brighton for six thou- 
sand pounds, which she had received from the prince, and on the 
interest of which she chiefly subsisted ; the certificate of her mar- 
iage ; f a letter from the prince when king, acknowledging their 
relation as husband and wife ; a will written by him at a later 
period of his life ; and a letter of the clergyman who performed 

* See Memoirs of Mrs. Fitzherbert/ with an Account of her Marriage with 
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, afterward George IV. By the Hon. Charles Lang- 
dale. London : Bentley. 

+ Dated December 21st, 1785. 

15 



338 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

the ceremony, with her own memorandum endorsed upon it. 
The concluding years of her long and romantic career were spent 
in dignified retirement at Brighton, the scene of her happiest 
days, and at that place her life terminated in 1837. Very few 
incidents connected with the existence of George IV. place his 
character in a more disgraceful light, or indicate more clearly the 
perfidy of his heart, and his total want of moral principle, 
than his treatment of this remarkable woman whose greatest 
error seems to have been, that she loved her soi-disant husband 
not wisely but too well. 

Although George III. was totally unacquainted with the per- 
sonal character of Caroline of Brunswick, he despatched Lord 
Malmesbury to the court of her father, not to scrutinize her ap 
pearance and disposition, and report the result of his observa-i 
tions, but to make an immediate and positive demand of hen 
hand in marriage for the Prince of Wales. He arrived at Bruns- 
wick in November, 1794, and was received with a most cordial 
welcome. Being introduced to the Princess Caroline, he found: 
her to possess a pretty face, fine eyes, good hair, tolerable! 
teeth, and a well-proportioned figure. She was witty and spright- 
ly in her conversation ; her laugh was hearty and satirical ; buti 
her manners were too undignified and free.* Even the courtly 
and gallant diplomatist could not fail to notice that the princess 
exhibited one of the most repulsive weaknesses of which women 
can be guilty. She was not addicted to superfluous cleanliness ; 
and if the truth must be known, this defect, together with the 
results which naturally and inevitably flowed from it, were the 
chief causes of her subsequent misfortunes. She was to be united 
to one of the most fastidious and voluptuous men of the age ; 

* A few specimens of her girlish wit remain. Being asked by her instructor 
in natural history " in what country the lion is to be found," she replied : " Well, 
you may find him in the heart of a Brunswicker." Her father having asked 
her, when twelve years old, " how she would define time and space," she an- 
swered : " Space is in the mouth of Madame von L., and time is in her face." 
A woman possessed of so great a disposition to sarcasm would not be harmless 
or inoffensive in such a melancholy contest as afterward ensued between herself 
and her husband. 



LIFE AOT) REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 339 

and yet she was one of the least endurable of women to such a 
man. Had the Prince of Wales been permitted to see his intend- 
ed bride previous to the ceremony, no power on earth could 
have induced him to accept her. Had the Duke of York, 
when visiting the Prince of Brunswick several years before, 
made a more critical examination of the appearance and qualities 
of the princess than he did, he would never have recommended 
the match, or have been the means of bringing it eventu- 
ally to a completion. The representations of the Duke of York 
seem to have excited the curious ardor of the intended bride- 
groom to the highest pitch ; for Lord Malmesbury was followed 
to Brunswick by Major Hislop, who brought with him a portrait 
of the prince, and a letter to the former vehemently urging him 
to hasten homeward with the princess. 

Accordingly Malmesbury was married to Caroline vica- 
riously on the eighth of December, 1794. Several months elapsed 
before the journey to England was commenced. During this 
interval the English envoy endeavored to infuse into the mind 
of the princess more correct views of decorum ; for of this mat- 
ter she appeared to him to be strangely ignorant. Her father, 
the old Duke of Brunswick, said of her, perhaps cruelly, yet en- 
igmatically : " She is no fool ; but she has no judgment." Her 
greatest fault was her everlasting loquacity. Her tongue seemed 
never to repose ; and when people are eternally talking, even 
the wisest must needs utter a vast quantity and variety of non- 
sense. This was precisely the misfortune and the error of Caro 
line of Brunswick. Malmesbury endeavored in vain, in his fre- 
quent and confidential conversations with her, to correct her 
conduct, and to impress upon her mind the conviction that the 
Princess of Wales should be a model of dignity and propriety 
He counselled her to avoid familiarity with any one, and to have 
no confidants. She promised to obey his advice, and instantly 
broke her promise by asking him questions in reference to Lady 
Jersey and Mrs. Fitzherbert, of whom she spoke as the two mis- 
tresses of her intended husband. Malmesbury wisely advised 
her never to seem conscious of the existence of these persons, 



340 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

and assured her that appearances of jealousy on the part of a 
wife are always unpleasant, generally useless, and frequently in- 
jurious to the injured wife in the highest degree. He also urged 
her to attend divine service regularly, and to seem to be, if 
she even were not, devoutly attached to religion and the estab- 
lished church. The admonitions which the subtle diplomatist 
imparted to his ward might be fitly condensed into a single 
word, and a single precept ; but this was the word which, 
throughout her whole life, she constantly ignored, and the pre- ■ 
cept which she invariably violated — be prudent. He event 
thought it necessary from the indications of frivolity which 
he observed in the princess to caution her against the slightest ; 
disposition to flirt with the handsome courtiers who would sur- 
round her in her new residence ; and while he informed her that, 
by the laws of England, the penalty of death was inflicted on any 
man who dared to solicit the favors of a Princess of Wales, he 
added with prudent boldness, that it would be high treason in 
her to accede to any such approaches, and that the penalty of 
high treason in all cases was death. This novel and startling an- 
nouncement caused the princess to fall into a profound reverie ; 
after which, however, her usual excessive gaiety returned. 

The young bride left Brunswick on the 29th of December, 
1795. The party stopped at Hanover on their way. Several 
months were occupied in accomplishing the journey to England. 
Rather singular developments were made to Lord Malmesbury 
during this interval in reference to the personal peculiarities of 
the future Queen of England. His olfactories convinced him, 
in spite of his repugnance to such a conclusion, that the princess 
was very careless in regard to her person, that she made her 
toilette with excessive haste, that she rarely paid much attention 
to cleanliness, and that she was e en offensive from this neglect. 
This discovery was a stunning blow to the diplomatist, who well 
knew the fastidious and exquisite taste of the intended bride- 
groom ; and he anticipated results as unpropitious as those which 
actually occurred. 

Caroline of Brunswick arrived at Greenwich on the 4th of 



LIFE AOT> KEIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 341 

April, 1796. The news of her arrival rapidly spread through 
the vicinity, and the whole populace gave utterance to their 
hearty welcome. In a short time the royal carriages arrived to 
convey her to the capital. A large company of lords and ladies 
were sent to escort her, and among the latter was Lady Jersey, 
the crafty and malignant star of the princess's future destiny. 
Lady Jersey commenced to ridicule her dress, appearance, and 
manners ; and began a series of persecutions which ended only 
in the grave of the unfortunate woman who was thus unwillingly 
dragged up to greatness by the stupidity of George III. Having 
arrived at St. James's Palace, the royal family were officially 
informed of her presence. The Prince of Wales immediately 
hastened to greet his bride and cousin ; and this was the begin- 
ning, the opening scene of that melancholy, disgusting, and 
disgraceful tragedy, which has cast such eternal infamy over the 
House of Hanover, and especially upon the Prince of Wales. 
The princess had not been allowed leisure to pay any atten- 
tion to her person or her toilette after her long and tedious 
journey, before her intended husband rushed into her presence 
with the eager curiosity and uncourteous rudeness of an over- 
grown boy. Lord Malmesbury alone was the witness of this 
first interview. He instantly introduced the princess to the prince. 
She then attempted to kneel, according to the usual etiquette ; 
but the prince approaching, prevented her, embraced her, and in- 
stantly retired to a remote corner of the room, exclaiming : " I 
am not well, Harris, get me a glass of brandy." The astonished 
Malmesbury was confounded at this singular deportment, and 
replied, " Sir, had you not better have a glass of water 1 " The 
prince, apparently much offended, said, " No, I will go directly 
to the queen," and then rushed from the apartment. During 
this scene, the princess remained standing, and in amazement. 
At length she exclaimed to the attendant, " My God, does the 
prince always behave in this way 1 He is very coarse, and not 
near as handsome as his portrait." Malmesbury was greatly 
perplexed, and stammered out, that the prince was naturally 
much confused at this first interview, and that she must excuse 



342 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

his rudeness ; but the real cause of the catastrophe which thus 
attended the commencement of this unpropitious union, was, that 
the nostrils of the bridegroom were offended beyond endurance 
by the odor which proceeded from the person of the unwashed 
and slovenly princess. 

The unfavorable impression already produced on the mind of 
the bridegroom, was soon increased by the deportment of the 
princess at the royal table. She affected flippancy, raillery, and 
wit, and endeavored to irritate Lady Jersey, the mistress of her 
husband, by her sarcastic allusions. Such conduct would have 
been at all times indecorous, but so soon after her arrival in 
England it was doubly improper. The prince was heartily dis- 
gusted with his matrimonial bargain ; and he declared to Malmes- 
bury, his great regret that he had not been permitted to see, or 
at* least to know, the peculiarities of the princess before her ar- 
rival in England. The truth is, that her defects both of person 
and character were of so trivial and so remediable a nature, 
that they might have all been cured and removed, and the union 
which could not then be easily dissolved, might have been made 
agreeable and propitious, had not the husband himself been one 
of the most worthless and contemptible of men. He possessed 
not a single quality which enabled him, or disposed him, ty exer- 
cise a favorable influence upon her mind. A prudent and saga- 
cious partner might have moulded the tastes and converted the 
character of the princess to admirable qualities and uses ; but he 
was himself a volatile and unprincipled voluptuary, who scarcely, 
during his whole existence, conceived a useful thought or accom- 
plished a desirable end. 

The ceremony of this most unfortunate marriage in modern 
times was performed on the 8th of April, 1795, in the Boyal 
Chapel of the palace of St James. Nothing which has ever 
been described in the exaggerated pages of romance, or in the 
sterner realities of the history of princes, equals the disgraceful 
and lamentable scenes which took place on this occasion, the 
real importance of which to the future happiness of millions 
cannot well be estimated. Then a connection was to be formed 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FOURTH. 343 

which would mould in future years by the direct and indirect in- 
fluence which would inevitably proceed from it, the fate of a vast 
empire, the future relations of princes and kingdoms, and all the 
various interests of countless multitudes of human beings. As- 
suredly on such an occasion, the chief actor would entertain some 
appreciation of its importance ; and would deport himself in some 
degree worthy of the responsibilities which he assumed. The 
fact was widely different. The bridal party assembled in the 
apartments of the queen, and proceeded thence to the royal 
chapel, which was crowded. The ceremony was performed by 
Dr. Moore, the Archbishop of Canterbury ; but the scene was 
most repulsive. The bridegroom was so completely intoxi- 
cated, as to be unable to stand. During the ceremony he was 
supported on each side by the attendant groomsmen. After he 
knelt, he rose again before the proper time ; the Archbishop 
paused, the service was interrupted, universal confusion prevailed 
among the royal circle ; and the prince could only be brought to 
his knees again, almost unconsciously, by the decisive action of 
George III., who rose from his seat, briskly walked to his bewil- 
dered son, whispered in his ear, and assisted or compelled him 
again to kneel. After this incident the ceremony was concluded 
with the aid of the groomsmen, who, on this occasion, were com- 
pelled to perform a service which never fell to the lot of princely 
attendants before. During the ceremony the unhappy bride, 
who was unprepared for so mortifying a scene, could not conceal 
her well-founded sorrow. A supper followed at Buckingham 
palace, at which the unlucky pair took no notice of each other. 
At midnight they retired to their own residence at Carlton 
House, and quarrelled with each other on the road. Such was 
indeed a fitting commencement of this unfortunate and unpro- 
pitious marriage.* 

* Doran's Queens of England of the House of Hanover, Vol. ii., p. 238. It 
is difficult to assign a reason for the conduct of the Prince of Wales on this oc- 
casion, or to explain why he should have had recourse to the pernicious influence 
of intoxicating liquors. Probably he was filled with remorse at the conscious- 
ness of his previously existing marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert, and regret at 
the thought of resigning her ; for he apprehended that she would thenceforth 



344 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

Carlton House had been furnished for the reception of the 
prince and his bride with regal magnificence. The dressing-room 
of the princess alone cost twenty-five thousand pounds. Many 
valuable presents had been prepared for her by the several mem- 
bers of the royal family. But all these indications of courtesy 
and esteem, as well as the countless effusions of loyalty and ad- 
miration which filled the newspapers of the day were falsified by 
the event. One of these asserted that " the Princess of Wales 
was one of the best harpsicord players among the royal families 
on the continent : the prince being passionately fond of music, 
harmony will of course be the order of the day ! " It was as- 
serted in the same quarter that the princess was always dressed 
in a simple but elegant style ; that her taste in every part of her 
attire was equally exquisite, and that she would doubtless become 
the standard of fashionable taste and elegance ; whereas a de- 
ficiency in this very respect was the most glaring and invincible 
defect in her character. 

After the hateful pageantry of the marriage of the prince, came 
the irksome and repulsive task of paying his enormous debts. 
These now amounted to the sum of six hundred and forty-two 
thousand nine hundred pounds. The prince had consented to the 
match only on condition that these obligations should be liquidated ; 
he had performed his part of the contract and George III. was ex- 
pected to do the same. On the 27th of April, 1795, Mr. Pitt 
introduced the subject to the attention of the Commons in a very 
able speech. The king sent in a message in which he set forth 
the necessity of providing a suitable establishment for the heir 
apparent, and added that the first point preparatory to all others, 
was to liquidate his debts. One expedient by which he proposed to 
accomplish this result was to appropriate a portion of the prince's 

repel him. In addition to this he was doubtless disgusted with the offensiveness 
of the person of the princess. A third reason might have been the fact that 
the princess had herself acknowledged, that her affections were already pre- 
occupied by an attachment to a member of her father's diminutive court at 
Brunswick ; which circumstance, with her usual carelessness and imprudence, 
she had communicated to her worst enemy, Lady Jersey. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 345 

intended income, and the yearly revenues of the Duchy of Corn- 
wall to the payment of his obligations. Mr Pitt proposed that 
the annual income of the prince should be fixed at a hundred and 
twenty-five thousand pounds, that twenty-eight thousand should 
be allowed for jewels and plate for the marriage, and twenty-six 
thousand be allowed for the finishing and enlarging of Carlton 
House. The revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall were thirteen 
thousand pounds. The accumulation during the prince's minority 
from 1763 to 1783 were two hundred and thirty-three thousand 
pounds. The minister proposed that seventy-eight thousand 
pounds of this sum should be appropriated to this purpose ; and 
that the princess should have a yearly income of fifty thousand 
pounds, independently of her husband. 

The discussion on the proposition of the minister continued 
during nearly three months. Fox and Sheridan greatly distin- 
guished themselves during its progress, by the ability and fierce- 
ness with which they attacked the king and his cabinet. The 
mind of the nation was hostile to the prince. It was at that very 
period sore and fretted, in consequence of the disastrous results 
of the French war, and the splendid triumphs which clustered 
around the eagles of the rising young Republic. The taxes 
which the nation paid were already enormous ; and when they 
heard of a farrier's bill for forty thousand pounds, and an annuity 
to his cast-off mistress, Mrs. Crouch, being among the obligations 
of the voluptuous and lavish prince, they became intensely and 
not unjustly incensed. Mrs. Fitzherbert was at this period re- 
siding in a magnificent mansion in Park Lane, at the rate of ten 
thousand pounds a year ; while Lady Jersey succeeded in ex- 
tracting from the purse of her unprincipled paramour of no in- 
considerable sum. 

What might eventually have been the result of the debate in 
Parliament on the subject, it would be impossible to assert, had 
not the prince himself, by Mr. Anstruther, his solicitor-general, 
proposed a compromise. The proceedings eventually terminated 
by the passage of three bills ; the first, for preventing future 
Princes of Wales from incurring debts ; the second granting an 



346 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

establishment to the prince ; the third providing a jointure for 
the princess. Commissioners were also appointed to examine 
into the nature and justice of his debts. Some of the claims 
were rejected as utterly groundless ; many were reduced in a 
great degree as exorbitant ; and a per centage was taken off from 
the whole of them. The creditors whose demands were allowed, 
were to be paid by debentures bearing interest, and the term of 
nine years was allowed for the final settlement of the entire 
amount. By this means, this most lavish and expensive of 
human beings was again relieved for a time from the pecuniary 
embarrassments by which for some years, he had been annoyed. 

The domestic quarrels of the prince and princess began im- 
mediately after their marriage, and never ended until the death 
of the latter. The prince soon succeeded in winning back the 
society of Mrs. Fitzherbert — from that of Lady Jersey he had 
never separated himself. On more than one occasion, both of 
these women, by the contrivance of the prince, dined at the same 
table in order to mortify the princess. On the 7th of January, 1 796, 
the Princess Charlotte, the ill-starred fruit of this untoward match, 
was born ; but her advent brought no joy to the heart of the 
unfortunate mother. The father, when presented with the infant, 
coldly remarked that it was a fine girl, and never approached 
the bedside of the mother. He refused all public demonstrations 
of congratulation from the various corporations of the realm, 
which courteously tendered them ; and the reason was, that he 
had already determined upon a total and final separation from 
his wife. As soon as she had partially recovered from the effects 
of her confinement, her husband's purpose was conveyed to her 
by Lady Cholmondeley. She replied, with as much composure 
as she could assume, that such an intention should be conveyed 
to her directly from her husband in writing ; and that, should a 
separation then take place, their intercourse should never under 
any circumstances be again resumed. 

In accordance with the intention thus expressed, the prince 
wrote a letter in which he said that " our inclinations are not in 
our power ; nor should either of us be held answerable to the 



LIFE AXD REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 347 

other, because nature has not made us suitable to each other. 
Tranquillity and comfortable society are, however, in our power ; 
let our intercourse therefore be restricted to that." He ex- 
pressed his hearty concurrence in the determination of the prin- 
cess, that if they separated at all it should be forever ; and even 
went so far as to contemplate remote and possible contingencies 
by adding, that should any accident happen to their daughter, by 
which her life would be terminated, he would never propose to 
remedy the calamity by resuming " a connection of a more par- 
ticular nature." 

The princess was compelled to acquiesce in the purpose of her 
husband ; and after precisely one year's experience of domestic 
life, they separated forever. Her allowance was at first fixed at 
twenty thousand pounds ; but she finally refused to accept this 
sum, and held her husband responsible for her expenses. She 
retired to a small residence at Charlton near Woolwich ; but 
subsequently she removed to Montague House on Blackheath. 
She still retained possession of her daughter, and was occasion- 
ally visited by her royal father-in-law and uncle. At Montague 
House, the princess entertained her friends in a handsome man- 
ner ; and among her frequent visitors were Lord Chancellor 
Eldon and George Canning. The young Princess Charlotte was 
placed, when at the proper age, under the superintendence of 
Lady Elgin, in a mansion in the vicinity ; though the visits of 
the unhappy mother to her child were generally restricted to 
one a week. 

The matter of the pecuniary support of the princess was 
finally settled by an annual allowance of about twenty thousand 
pounds — the sum which she previously refused. Her husband 
now retired for some years from the public gaze, and spent his 
obscurity in the indulgence of all his luxurious and voluptuous 
tastes. Those eight happiest years of his life in the society of 
Mrs. Fitzherbert then ensued, to which reference has already been 
made ; and while the continent was convulsed with the great 
events attendant upon the meteoric ambition of Napoleon Bona- 
parte, the prince luxuriated in the enjoyment of the choicest 



348 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

felicities which earth can bestow, except one and the greatest — 
an easy conscience.* 

* The reply of the Princess of Wales to the communication of her husband, 
in which he expressed his desire and determination to have a permanent sep- 
aration, was as follows : 

"Sir, — The avowal of your conversation with Lord Cholmondeley neither ; 
surprises nor offends me ; it merely confirmed what you have tacitly insinuated 
for this twelvemonth. But after this, it would be a want of delicacy, or rather 
an unworthy meanness, in me, were I to complain of those conditions which 
you impose upon yourself. I should have returned no answer to your letter, if 
it had not been conceived in terms to make it doubtful whether this arrangement 
proceeds from you or from me. You are aware that the honor of it belongs to 
you alone. The letter which you announce to me as the last, obliges me to com- 
municate to the king, as to my sovereign and my father, both your avowal and ; 
my answer. You will find inclosed a copy of my letter to the king. I apprise 
you of it, that I may not incur the slightest reproach of duplicity from you. As i 
I have at this moment no protector but his majesty, I refer myself solely to him i 
on this subject ; and if my conduct meet his approbation, I shall be, in some I 
degree at least, consoled. I retain every sentiment of gratitude for the situation | 
in which I find myself, as Princess of Wales, enabled by your means to indulge I 
in the free exercise of a virtue dear to my heart — charity. It will be my duty, , 
likewise, to act upon another motive — that of giving an example of patience i 
and resignation under every trial. 

" Do me the justice to believe that I shall never cease to pray for your hap- 
piness, and to be, your much devoted, Caroline." Croly's Life and Times of 
George IV., p. 202. 



CHAPTEK III. 

Defects of the Prince of "Wales — The Inconsistency of his Political Conduct — The Situ- 
ation of the Princess of Wales — Lord and Lady Douglas — Malicious Charges of the 
latter against the Princess — Trial of the Princess for Adultery — Evidence in her 
favor — Her Acquittal— The Sympathy of the Nation in her behalf— The Prince of 
Wales takes a new Mistress — Lady Hertford — Financial Embarrassments of the 
Princess of "Wales — Death of Mr. Percival — Duke of "Wellington— The Prince of 
Wales obtains an unrestricted JRegency. 

Perfidy and "want of consistency were among the most glaring 
defects in the character of the Prince of Wales ; and he displayed 
them in every stage of his career. In his early manhood, when 
he first entered political life, his rebellious hatred to his father 
induced him to form an intimate alliance with his father's fiercest 
enemies, the liberal Whigs. When the French Revolution 
broke forth, and threatened to prostrate to the earth every 
throne in Europe, he deserted the Whig party, which admired 
and commended that remarkable movement, and publicly 
avowed his hostility to the sentiments and measures of his for- 
mer associates. After the alarm of the terrified monarchs sub- 
sided, and they recovered their usual repose and confidence, the 
prince gradually returned to his deserted friends, for the purpose 
of using them as tools with which to embarrass his father's gov- 
ernment. When the confirmed insanity of George III. placed the 
regency in the hands of the prince, he again shamefully aban- 
doned the Whigs, patronized the Tory faction, and even perse- 
cuted his former confederates with that malignant rancor which 
he only can exhibit, who is conscious that he has so deeply in- 
jured, that he can neither forgive nor be forgiven. The same 
pernicious and unprincipled policy characterized his conduct 



350 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

toward his wives and mistresses. He promised to marry Car- 
oline of Brunswick only that he might obtain money. He knew 
that he had already entered into a most solemn obligation to 
" love, cherish and protect " another lady, who was indeed not 
unworthy of his affection , and no sooner was the second mar 
riage consummated than he abandoned the unfortunate woman 
whom he had induced by the false offer of an unappropriated 
hand and heart, to leave her paternal roof and accept a shelter 
under his own. He then commenced a series of persecutions 
and indignities against her which has scarcely a parallel in his- 
tory ; placing tempters in her way, and spies to hover around 
her steps, so that he might eventually ruin her reputation, blast 
her happiness, and inflict upon her those miseries which, to the 
female spirit, are most calamitous and crushing. 

The solitude in which the desertion of her husband, and the 
removal of her daughter, left the Princess of Wales, induced her 
to seek an alleviation in the society of children. She had heard 
that Sir John and Lady Douglas, who resided in the vicinity of 
her own abode, possessed a child of rare beauty, and she called 
in person to see it. Previous to this event she had no acquaint 
ance with the family, but after the first interview, their inter- 
course rapidly ripened into the closest intimacy. Lady Douglas 
was an intriguing woman, and her reputation was not spotless. 
She was a most dangerous person to be the associate of a wo- 
man so bold and imprudent in her speech as the Princess of 
Wales ; for she was capable of turning all that she heard, in 
moments of unsuspicious freedom, to the worst account. The 
princess soon became aware of this painful circumstance, and 
then she suddenly broke off the acquaintance. This course 
greatly incensed the discarded family ; and their indignation was 
increased when they received an anonymous letter of an insulting 
character, which they falsely ascribed to the princess as its 
author. 

Lady Douglas determined to revenge the supposed insult. 
In 1802 the princess had taken a fancy to an infant whose 
parents were named Austin, and which had been born in a hos- 



LITE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 351 

pital. She had it removed to her own residence, and there tend- 
ed with the utmost care. Lady Douglas took advantage of this 
circumstance, to base upon it the most gigantic and formidable 
pyramid of lies which ever yet crushed a woman's reputation. 
She informed the Duke of Kent that she was in possession of im- 
portant facts which closely concerned the honor of the Prince of 
Wales, and was prepared to communicate them. The Duke had 
an interview with the lady ; and afterward scrupulously detailed to 
the prince of the substance of her information. The latter wel- 
comed the intelligence, and requested that Lady Douglas might 
prepare a written statement of all the facts within her knowl- 
edge ; with which request she eagerly complied. She declared 
that during her close and confidential intercourse with the prin 
cess, she discovered that she was coarse in conversation, vulgar 
in behavior, and vicious in conduct ; that she attempted to se- 
duce even Lady Douglas herself from the path of virtue ; and 
that she had laughed at her supposed scruples. She asserted 
that the princess had acknowledged to her that she was about to 
become a mother ; that to avoid suspicion she had resolved to 
pretend to adopt a child, and call it Austin ; and that the person 
of the princess, immediately before the appearance of that child, 
indicated by every infallible evidence the existence of her preg- 
nancy. Various other details followed, so indelicate in their 
character that they cannot be here repeated. 

On the strength of this statement a commission was formed in 
1805, to take the testimony of some corroborating witnesses to 
whom Lady Douglas referred. These were chiefly servants in 
the household of the princess. Accordingly, John Cole was ex- 
amined, whorn the princess had recently discai'ded, as he asserted, 
for no greater offense than having accidentally observed some 
improper conduct between her and Sir Sidney Smith. He added 
that he had seen immoral proceedings between the princess and 
Captain Manby of the Royal Navy, and between her and Law- 
rence the painter. Bidgood, another servant, was also examined. 
He testified that he had seen Captain Manby kiss the princess, 
and had observed her to weep at his departure from her resi- 



fc 



352 HISTORY OF THE FOUE GEOEGE8. 

dence. He deposed to similar improprieties between his mis- 1 '' 
tress and Captain Hood. All these witnesses had been placed] 
in the household of the princess, in the first instance, not by her 
own selection, but by that of her husband. 

In consequence of this additional evidence, the king issued his 
warrant in May, 180G, to Lords Erskine, Grenville, Spencer, and|* 
Ellenborough, directing them to inquire into the truth or false- 
hood of the accusations made against the princess, and report 
the results of their investigations. They examined all the wit- 
nesses under oath. These testified before the royal commission- 
ers to the same effect as when first interrogated. Lady Douglas, . 
Sir John Douglas, Cole, Fanny Floyd, and Bidgood, were the 
principal witnesses to the improper and guilty behaviour of the j 
accused ; but their declarations were afterward contradicted in 
the most positive and conclusive manner by other witnesses far 
more credible and competent than themselves. The evidence to 
show that young Austin was not the child of the princess, but 
was born of a poor and humble mother in Brownlow Street Hos- 
pital, was complete and overwhelming. It became equally clear 
that the prirfcess had taken charge of it from motives of charity 
and benevolence. It was also established by more honest wit- 
nesses who were in the service of the princess, that she had never 
exhibited the slightest indications of pregnancy. Captain Manby 
swore positively, that the assertion of Bidgood, that he had seen 
him kiss the princess, was totally and absolutely false ; and that 
he had never on any occasion or in any maimer approached 
her person. The painter Lawrence testified that he had 
never been alone with the princess in his life, save once, and 
that only for a moment, when he turned back from the company 
which was retiring from her presence, to answer a question put 
to him by the princess in reference to her portrait which he was 
then painting ; and he solemnly averred that he had never 
touched her person in any manner. Mr. Edmondes, whom one 
of the witnesses against the princess had accused of having said, 
that he knew facts which would convict and condemn her, deposed 
that he had never uttered a word tending in any way to criminate 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 353 

or degrade her. Mr. Mills, the medical attendant of the princess, 
declared under oath, that the witness who asserted that he had inti- 
mated that the princess was pregnant in 1802, swore falsely; and 
that the princess had never shown the least evidence of pregnancy 
since his acquaintance with her. Other witnesses testified that 
they had seen Lady Douglas and Bidgood in secret conversation 
together, evidently hatching between them the minute details of 
rt (these infamous slanders. Sir Sidney Smith also testified that, 
'though he had been intimately acquainted with the princess, and 
had frequently visited her in the morning, which was a usual cus- 
tom at that time even in the highest ranks of English society, 
there had never passed the slightest impropriety between him 
and the accused.* 

The evidence in favor of the princess was in truth overwhelm- 
ing. Every charge was triumphantly refuted. The written and 
verified testimony taken before the royal commissioners was 
then submitted to the scrutiny of the king, who carefully exam- 
ined it, and was completely satisfied in regard to the innocence 
of his daughter-in-law. Yet nine weeks elapsed before she re- 
ceived any communication which could alleviate her suspense on 
the subject. She then addressed a courteous letter to the king, 
requesting that he would hasten his final judgment in the matter, 
inasmuch as such delay caused her to sink in the estimation of 
his majesty's subjects, and gave a temporary and unfair tri- 
umph to her enemies. Yet some months passed away after this 
appeal, before the king rendered his opinion of the innocence or 
the guilt of the accused. In January, 1807, the cabinet, at the 
command of the monarch, gave utterance to the conclusion to 
which he had arrived ; and they set forth that the evidence did 
not justify further proceedings against the accused. They how- 
ever did not acquit her formally and absolutely, as they should 
have done ; but set forth that the princess had evidently been 
guilty of great imprudence and impropriety ; and concluded 

* See Diary Elustrative of the Times of George IV., with Letters of Queen 
Caroline, Princess Charlotte, and other Distinguished Persons. Edited by John 
Gait. 1 vols. London : Colburn, 1839. Vol. iii., p. 240. 



354 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

with administering to her a reproof and a caution as to her con 
duct in future. This last was indeed not undeserved ; but thl 
absence of a total acquittal, in a case where the evidence did not| 
in the eyes of the commissioners, justify a conviction, was aijl 
outrage upon English law and natural justice. After the terminll 
ation of the whole affair, the king formally informed Caroling 
that " his Majesty was convinced that it was no longer necessarJ 
for him to decline receiving her into the royal presence." Thusl| 
terminated this memorable and infamous scrutiny, which was ir 
itself an object of popular disgust and reprobation. The natior 
at large exulted in the vindication of the princess which resulted 
from it ; for she then possessed, as she did until the day of hei 
death, their confidence and sympathy ; but they condemned the 
inquest because it did not give to approved innocence that signal 1 
triumph to which it is entitled, when it overwhelms the false ac-; 
cuser with a resistless flood of vindicatory evidence. The English 
nation readily discerned that, behind the solemn and majestic formr 
of justice, the shadow of the real prosecutor, the* recreant husband,! 
hovered ; and that his pernicious influence prevented the full and 
equitable performance of the behests of truth and righteousness: 
toward the accused. This conviction greatly injured the prince; 
in the estimation of the people, and augmented that load of cen 
sure and execration under which he already so ignominiously, 
labored. 

Shortly after the termination of this " delicate investigation," 
as it was courteously termed, the prince consoled himself for his 
disappointed vengeance by taking a new mistress. The person 
in question was Lady Hertford. He made her acquaintance in 
consequence of wishing to gratify Mrs. Eitzherbert in obtaining 
a niece of the former lady, Miss Seymour, as a companion for 
her. During the progress of the negotiation the prince was 
charmed with the beauty, intelligence, and amiability of Lady 
Hertford, and fell desperately in love with her. At first his 
offers and his person were repelled. He then betook himself to 
his former ridiculous expedients to win female pity and sym- 
pathy, bled himself excessively, became in consequence very pale 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 355 

cat md interesting, and ended by adding the obdurate beauty lo the 
1 1 already extensive and varied list of his female conquests. 

The purpose of George III. to admit the Princess of Wales to 
personal interview was postponed for a time by the interpo- 
sition of her husband, who informed the king that he was not 
liaelsatisned with the result of the late inquiry, but intended to refer 
an the charges back again to the action of his legal advisers. But 
litis in March, 1807, the Grenville administration, who were hostile 
to the princess were compelled to resign, and a new ministry 
were appointed, the leading members of which were favorable to 
her. Among their number were Lord President Camden, Lord 
Chancellor Eldon, Lord Privy Seal Westmoreland, the Duke 
of Portland, Mr. Canning, and Viscount Castlereagh. These 
statesmen suggested to the monarch the propriety of doing tardy 
justice to the princess ; and accordingly in the succeeding May 
she was invited to the queen's drawing-room. A large and bril- 
liant company were present. During the course of the evening 
the prince and princess accidentally met in the centre of the 
apartment. The collision must have been most unwelcome to 
the former, but he was compelled to assume a degree of courtesy 
which was greatly foreign to his feelings. He bowed to the prin- 
cess, stood face to face for a few moments, exchanged some words 
which the eager bystanders were unable to hear, and then passed 
on. His manner was cold, repulsive, and stately ; hers, was a 
melancholy and feeble assumption of gaiety, which clearly indi- 
cated that her heart was heavily oppressed with anguish. They 
never met again during the course of their subsequent lives. 

Another misfortune now overtook the princess. She was 
burdened with debts, and embarrassed for means. One of her chief 
defects was her total inability to financier, and an utter ignorance 
of the value of money. In 1809, she was compelled to apply to 
the ministers for relief, to liquidate debts which had accumulated 
to the sum of fifty thousand pounds. The Prince of Wales em- 
braced the opportunity to effect a formal separation from his de- 
tested and injured wife. On this condition he agreed to pay her 
obligations, with the proviso that he should be released from all 



356 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

future pecuniary responsibility on her behalf; and an income of 
twenty-two thousand pounds per year was allowed her, to be dis 
bursed under the control of a treasurer, who was to superintend] 
her expenses. Such was the relation which was established hi 
tween this unhappy and unenviable pair, when in 1810, the prince.] 
in consequence of the king's temporary insanity, obtained a re-1 
stricted regency. The princess continued to reside quietly at, 
Kensington Palace ; the prince at Carlton House. An intense; 
feeling of hostility mutually embittered their lives. Meanwhile 
their daughter, the Princess Charlotte, increased in years and 
graces, and was hastening forward to the completion of that mel-l 
ancholy career which fate had allotted her. She was permitted 
occasionally to see her mother, but she continued to reside at 
Carlton House. She was a beautiful, graceful, and intelligent 
girl. She is described as having been large for her age, with a 
full bosom, ample and well-rounded shoulders, hands and arms' 
of faultless symmetry, with a sweet and musical voice.* Heri 
personal charms and accomplishments improved with the progress* 
of time, until her marriage subsequently consummated her tran- 
sient felicity. 

At length in 1812 the insanity of George III. appearing to 1 
have become confirmed and hopeless, the restrictions which had 
been placed upon the Eegency were removed, and the Prince of 
"Wales virtually became the monarch of the British Empire. 
The brilliant talents of Mr. Percival then guided the destinies of 
the nation as prime minister ; but the sudden blow of the assas- 
sin terminated his eminent career, and deprived the Prince Re- 
gent of the invaluable aid of his services. On the 11th of May, 
he was shot when passing through the lobby of the House of 
Commons, by an obscure person named Bellingham, who was 
doubtless insane. The prince, on being informed of this great 
calamity, sent a message to the house, condoling with them on 
the general loss, and proposing an annuity for the family of the 

* See Diary Illustrative of the Times of George IV., comprising t7ie Secret 
History of the Court, &c. By Lady Charlotte Bury, Maid of Honor to Queen, 
Caroline. 4 toIs. London, 1839. Vol. i., p. 65. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 357 
i 

nurdered statesman ; which was readily acceded to by the mem- 
Ders. The Marquis of Wellesley was then commissioned by the 
prince to form a new ministry. Many difficulties obstructed the 
nay. Lords Grey and Grenville were invited to share in the 
idministration, and both refused, unless they obtained possession 
of the whole of the patronage of the government. This demand 
was regarded as exorbitant beyond sufferance, and the delibera- 
tions terminated on the 8th of June, 1812, by the appointment 
of the Earl of Liverpool as the First Lord of the Treasury. At 
the time of the accession of the prince to the unrestricted Ee- 
gency, he was one of the most unpopular sovereigns who ever 
wielded the sceptre of England. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

Unpleasant Position of the Princess Charlotte — Published Letter of the Princess o 
Wales — Flight of the Princess Charlotte from her Father's Residence— She Is comi 
pelled to return— Page of the Prince Eegent at her Plight — Persecutions of he'< 
Mother — The Princess of Wales resolves to travel on the Continent — Marriage of thi 
Princess Charlotte — Her Subsequent Death — General Grief of the Nation — ConduC' 
of the Princess of Wales during her Travels — The Milan Commission — Resolutioi 
of the Princess to return to England — Her Second Trial for Adultery is resolvct 
upon. 

As the Princess Charlotte advanced in years, and comprehended 
more clearly the unfortunate relations which existed between her 
parents, she very naturally became the partisan of her mother. 
The Prince Regent was not slow to discover this unwelcome facty 
and his treatment of his daughter became in consequence exi 
tremely tyrannical and harsh. He endeavored to restrict theirj 
intercourse still more than it had previously been ; but the two 
ladies, though watched by the agents of their father, eluded their 
vigilance, and corresponded repeatedly and continually. But 
the epistolary labors of the Princess of Wales were not confined 
to her daughter. In 1813, she wrote a long and feeling letter to 
her husband in which she asserted her innocence of all guilt, con- 
demned the restrictions which were placed upon her intercourse 
with her daughter, and demanded that an end should be put to 
the numerous and unjust persecutions which she was compelled! 
to endure. The letter was returned unopened. It was again 
sent to the prince, and again returned with an intimation that the 
prince would enter into no correspondence with its author. 
Legal advice was taken and the letter was again despatched to 
the prince. An answer was returned by Lord Liverpool, to the 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 359 

effect that the prince had been informed of its contents but had 
no reply to make to it. The princess then published the letter 
in the Morning journals, and its appearance excited the wrath of 
the regent to an extent which almost overturned his reason. The 
nation eagerly perused this document, containing the story of the 
writer's wrongs ; one voice of indignation against the prince re- 
sounded throughout the length and breadth of the land ; and the 
strongest popular sympathy was excited in behalf of an innocent 
wd^fcm, who was persecuted and outraged by a notorious liber- 
tine, an unprincipled sensualist, a lavish and unscrupulous tyrant, 
! for no fault whatever, except that her person and disposition 
did not please his fastidious and prurient taste. 

The popular sympathy only impelled the prince to treat his 
discarded wife with more unjustifiable cruelty. When in 1815, 
the allied sovereigns of Europe, who had triumphantly placed 
their feet upon the neck of Napoleon, congregated in London, 
and when the absolute etiquette of courts demanded that all the 
royal visitors should pay their respects to the wife of the Regent, 
he prevented them, by the most peremptory requests, from giving 
the least indication that they were conscious of her existence. 
His antipathy even extended to interfering with her appear- 
ance in the theatres, and to prohibiting invitations to be sent to 
her to be present at the banquets given by the great corporations 
of the realm in the capital. Sometimes, however, in spite of all 
Ins efforts, the princess confronted her husband in public, and 
divided with him, to his infinite annoyance, the applauses of the 
multitude. Such triumphs very naturally afforded her exquisite 
pleasure ; at other times, the indignities inflicted on her by her 
husband and his emissaries, drew tears from her eyes. On the other 
hand, the abuse with which the populace sometimes avenged her 
wrongs upon the Regent extorted curses from his lips ; for as he 
once proceeded from Temple Bar to a public banquet in Guild- 
hall, they rent the air with insulting cries of " Where's your 
w if e 1 " — the most unwelcome and repugnant question which 
could possibly have been propounded to his Royal Highness 
under any circumstances, but especially on so public and notori- 
ous an occasion. 



360 HISTOET OF THE FOUE GEOEGES. 



; 

:■ 






h 



In July, 1814, the Princess Charlotte indicated the boldnes 
of her spirit, and her preference for her mother, by an act c 
great resolution. She was informed that her father had deter 
mined to remove her from Carlton House to the remote an 
secluded residence of Cranbourne Lodge, in Windsor Forest 
The purpose of the Prince Regent in so doing was to place he "' 
at a greater distance, and in more complete separation, from he' fc 
mother. As soon as the princess was informed of this intention' I 
she dressed herself, silently and quickly descended the stall* ol 
the palace, and reached the pavement of Cockspur street. It \va 
seven o'clock in the evening. She instantly summoned a coachf 
and drove unattended to the residence of her mother in Connaugh 
Place. Having arrived there she found her mother absent a' 
Blackheath. She dispatched a message thither to request hei' 
return ; and her mother's legal advisers, Messrs. Brougham ano 
Whitbread, were also sent for. After a short interval all these 
parties arrived at Connaught House, when the young princess 
explained to them the causes and the purpose of her flight. But 
Mr. Brougham was compelled to inform her that, by the laws oil 
the realm, the King or Regent had absolute power to dispose ofi 
the persons of all the royal family while under age, and that it 
would be impossible for her to resist the authority of her father 
This information greatly distressed the princess. Other eminent 1 
personages soon afterward arrived : the Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, Lord Chancellor Eldon, the Duke of Sussex being 
among the number ; and they all concurred in confirming the 
opinion of Mr. Brougham. At length, after a conference of some 
hours, the princess was prevailed upon, with great difficulty, to 
return to her father's residence, though she expressed her will- 
ingness so to do, amid a flood of tears. She was accompanied 
thither by the Duke of York and her governess ; and she arrived 
between four and five o'clock in the morning.* The rage of the 

* There was a Westminster election then in progress in consequence of Lord 
Cochrane's expulsion from Parliament, and it is said that on her complaining to 
Mr. Brougham that he too was deserting her in the hour of her need, and leav- 
ing her in her father's power when the people would have stood by her — ho 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 361 

prince Kegent, when informed of this defeated escapade, was 
>oundless, and the princess was immediately removed to the 
iateful seclusion of Cranbourne Lodge. Previous to this incident, 
he had declined the matrimonial offers of the eldest son of the 
Cing of Holland. Her father was greatly in favor of the match ; 
r >ut the repugnance of the princess to it was insuperable. After 
ier removal to Windsor Forest she persisted in this feeling with 
uch invincible earnestness that the project was eventually aban- 
[. Said she : " I am resolved never to marry the Prince of 
grange. If it shall be seen that such a match is announced, I 
vish this my declaration to be borne in mind, that it will be a 
unarriage without my consent and against my will ; and I desire 
he Duke of Sussex and Mr. Brougham to take particular notice 
>f this." The determination of the princess, which was in part 
iscribed by her father to the adverse influence of her mother, 
rritated his haughty and unprincipled spirit beyond measure. 

The bitter persecutions which the Princess of Wales had 
;ndured, rendered her weary of the land in which she had expe- 
rienced so many sorrows ; and she now adopted the resolution to 
spend some time in travel on the continent. Her best advisers 
yarned her against this course. Mr. Brougham, foreseeing the fatal 
onsequences of a foreign residence to such a woman placed in 
mch peculiar circumstances, assured her that he would willingly 
mswer by his head for her safety both of person and reputation 
f she remained in England ; but that, if she journeyed abroad, he 



ook her to the window, when the rooming had just dawned, and, pointing to 
he Park and the spacious streets which extended before her, said that he had 
mly to show her a few hours later, on the spot where she now stood, and all the 
jeople of that vast metropolis would be gathered together, with one common 
feeling in her behalf ; but that the triumph of one hour would be dearly pur- 
ihased by the pernicious consequences which must assuredly follow in the next, 
when the troops poured in and quelled all resistance to the clear and undoubted 
aw of the land, with an immense effusion of blood ; nay, that through the rest 
)f her life she never would escape the odium which, in this country, always at- 
tends those who, by breaking the law, occasion such calamities. This consid- 
eration, much more than any quailing of her dauntless spirit, or faltering of her 
filial affection, is believed to have weighed upon her mind, and induced her to 
return home. Edinburg Eeview for April, 1838, p. 220. 

16 



362 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

would not answer for either for an hour. But Caroline nev<| 
listened to good counsel when she had once made up her min<| 
although all her wisest friends, excepting Mr. Canning, united i| 
an opinion adverse to her own. Accordingly she addressed) 
letter to Lord Liverpool informing him of her purpose, and iij 
quiring whether there would be any opposition on the part of tl 
government to its realization. He replied by order of the Rege* 
that there would be none whatever ; and that amiable prince c 
the day of her subsequent embarkation honored the event byi 
toast at his table, which was unequivocally expressive of his gra 
ification at her departure.* On the 9th of August, 1816, tlj 
princess went on board the Jason frigate, commanded by Captai] 
King, accompanied by her suite. A vast multitude lined tl; 
beach, who extended to the unfortunate traveller a subdued bi 
respectful farewell. Her first destination was Hamburg, then<> 
she proceeded to her native Brunswick. She assumed the les 
imposing title of Countess of Cornwall, and passed some weel 
in Switzerland in the society of the Ex-Empress, Maria Louis! 
Thence she journeyed to Milan. It was at this city that a pq 
tion of her English suite, having become disgusted with the ei 
cessive freedom and improprieties of her behavior, deserted hei 
and here, in substituting others in their stead, she first made t\ 
acquaintance of Bartholomew Bergami, an impoverished Italic 
nobleman, with whom she was afterwards charged with haviij 
committed repeated and habitual adultery. And it must be a 
mitted that, if merely indecorous and imprudent conduct can be rj 
garded as a conclusive evidence of guilt in a woman, the prince; 
furnished ample cause for conviction. 

The wandering and uneasy princess visited all the princip 
cities of Italy. She purchased a villa on the flowery and umbii 
geous banks of the placid Lake of Como, which was built of r< 
and white marble, with gilded apartments and ceilings paint" 
by the skilful pencils of Italian artists. Here she spent son, 
months in the enjoyment of luxurious ease, and perhaps findiil 

* " To the Princess of Wales, damnation ; and may she neTer return to Ei-' 
land." Doran'e Queens of England, ii., p. 297. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 363 

! n the society of her chamberlain, the handsome and amiable 
'^ergami, that pleasure which she had hoped to find in the mar- 
riage relation, but to which she had ever been a stranger. Soon 
til her English attendants deserted her, and she substituted others 
II their stead who were natives of the land of her sojourn. 
lifter some months spent at Como, she continued her travels, 
psiting Sicily, Palestine, Tunis, Greece, and Turkey. From in- 
specting the antique wonders of the romantic and historic East 
ihe returned to Europe. Passing through Vienna she reached 
Karlsruhe. She was sojourning at Trieste, still enamored of the 
graceful Bergami, and devoted to his person, when, in January, 
'820, the death of the aged monarch George III. elevated her to 
'he rank of Queen Consort of the British realms. 
1 During this unpropitious absence of the princess on the con- 
tinent, several important incidents had occurred in which both 
herself and her husband were deeply interested. Their daughter, 
'he Princess Charlotte, having absolutely refused to marry the 
wince of Orange, had subsequently become the wife of Prince 
1 jeopold, of Saxe-Cobourg. This match was one of real affection, 
! .nd the few months of married life which the princess enjoyed 
' vere by far the happiest period of her life. But this halcyon in- 
i erval of love and bliss was destined to be of short duration. She 
Expired in childbed, after having given birth to a still-born 
I Bant, on the 6th of November, 1817. The unexpected intelli- 
gence of her death was received by the nation with universal 
jferrow. Before the orders for mourning could be issued to the 
Populace, every rank and grade had already and spontaneously 
mticipated them. All public places of amusement were volun- 
tarily closed; the churches were hung with black; domestic 
i entertainments and marriages were suspended; business was 
Postponed ; and the unparalleled spectacle was presented of a 
^vhole community being bowed to the earth by the crushing weight 
\tt a real, incalculable, universal sorrow. The pulpits resounded 
^vith funereal eulogies on the departed princess ; and the occasion 
vas rendered memorable, among other minor incidents, by the 
lelivery of that matchless and magnificent discourse by Robert 



364 HISTORY OF THE FOUK GEORGES. 

Hall, which will remain to the end of time one of the great master 
pieces of British eloquence and genius. 

During the absence of the Princess of Wales on the continent 
exaggerated reports of the indelicacy and even the guilt of hei 
behavior had reached England; and the Prince Regent, eagel 
to find causes of offense against- his unhappy wife, had sent 
commission to Milan, composed of men of respectability, whosl 
duty it was to inquire into the conduct of the princess, to talc 
evidence of her former and present behavior, and report th' 
results of their researches. Caroline was not aware of th 
existence of these spies, or of the scrutiny and surveillance whic 
they exercised over her daily life ; and never did her habitus' 
want of caution lead her to a greater degree of imprudence, anil 
disregard of decorous appearances. The commissioners return© 
to England furnished with sufficient real and fabricated evidenc' 
to place the conduct and character of the nomade princess in n 
very favorable light. On the strength of their representation' 
the prince would have taken the necessary steps to procure 
divorce, had he not been assured by the friends and represents 
tives of the princess, that she never intended to return to Eiu 
land. In 1819 some negotiations had taken place between thl 
hostile pair, by which it was understood that, as long as th 
princess received her annuity of fifty thousand pounds, she care 1 
not to assume the title of queen. But no sooner was George II 
dead, and quietly inurned, than the princess announced he' 
determination to return to England and demand the rank, appoiml 
ments, and dignities of queen. When this purpose beeanr 
known to the Prince Regent, who had become, by the death d 
his father, King cle jure, though for some years he had alread; 
been King de facto, he expressed his determination to bring th' 
princess to trial for high crimes and misdemeanors. She me 1 
Mr. Brougham and Lord Hutchinson at St. Omer, on her rapij 
journey to England, and there again rejected an offer from he 
husband not to enter his dominions on condition of receiving fiffr 
thousand pounds during the remainder of her life. She hastene- 
on to Calais, and embarked at that port for Hover. During he 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOKGE THE FOURTH. 365 

progress from Dover to London, the populace poured forth by 

lyriads to welcome a woman whose persecutions they believed 

Hi ) be unparalleled. She took up her residence in London, in the 

uOuse of Alderman Wood. Immediately after her arrival a 

| lessage was delivered from the King to both Houses of Parlia- 

j lent to the effect that some information would be laid before them 

attaining facts of great importance to the future welfare of the 

country, on which a Bill of Pains and Penalties against the queen 

ould be based. This message was accompanied by documents 

j| r hich set forth the results of the labors of the Milan Commission, 

Inch had been composed of three persons ; a chancery lawyer, 

ho had never examined a witness in his life ; a colonel in the 

irmy, who knew no more of evidence than a lunatic ; and a 

^hrewd attorney, who, though sharp and sagacious, was totally 

^.evoid of integrity. 

|( The advisers of the king in these proceedings were Lord 

c jiverpool, a cautious, unpretending and prudent official hack ; 

jiOrd Castiereagh, a cunning, cold, and circumspect courtier; 

jord Eldon, a far-sighted, learned, and profound jurist, and the 

)uke of Wellington, a firm, bold, and resolute soldier. The 

efenders of the queen were Henry Brougham, one of the most 

loquent and powerful advocates of his time ; and Mr. Denman, 

L lawyer of eminence, who united greater learning and legal 

cquirements to less oratorical ability, than his associate.* An 

jffort was made in Parliament by Mr. Wilberforce, to com- 

>romise the chronic difficulties between the parties ; but with no 

( ivail. Caroline boldly demanded that she should receive the 

ippointments and prerogatives of Queen of England; that her 

lame should be inserted in the liturgy and read in the churches ; 

md that, in all respects, the usual formalities should be observed 

;oward her, and in the maintenance of her court, which appertained 

)f right to the Queen Consort. All these demands were abhor- 

* The other counsel of the queen who played a less distinguished part were 
Or. Lushington, Mr. Justice "Williams, and Mr. Sergeant Wilde. See The Trial 
it Large of Her Majesty Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, Queen of Great Britain, in 
'Jie House of Lords, &c. 2 vols. Manchester : J. Gleave, 1821. 



366 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

rent to the mind of the indignant and hostile king. It becan 
perfectly evident that the day of conciliation had forever pass* 
by ; and that this domestic feud, of such long standing, of su(| 
intense bitterness, and of such universal notoriety, could only lj 
terminated by the vexatious vicissitudes and revolting details 
a public and protracted prosecution. Mr. Brougham, on the pa 
of the queen, requested a postponement of two months from tl 
House of Lords, in order that the accused might have time 1 
prepare her defense. The request was granted. The intere 
which the nation felt in the approaching scrutiny was intense ai: 
universal ; yet all their sympathies were in behalf of the defen 
ant. After the designated interval had elapsed the hostile parti< 
— the most illustrious personages in rank in the realm — prepare 
to confront each other ; and then ensued one of those great hi 
torical " trials of princes " which have marked important epocl; 
in human history, which have elicited the noblest displays < 
human genius, and which have proved to the satisfaction of tb 
common herd of mankind, that the greatest are often the meaner 
and most miserable of their race. 



< 



CHAPTEE Y. 



Commencement of the Scrutiny— The Famous Bill of Pains and Penalties— The Queen's 
Accusers and Defenders — Imposing Scene in the House of Lords — Distinguished 
Rank of the Judges, Accuser, Defendant, and Counsel — Examination of the Wit- 
nesses — Learning and Acuteness of Messrs. Denman and Brougham — Overwhelming 
Power of their Eloquence— The Virtual Triumph of the Queen — The Withdrawal 
of the Bill — Exultation of her Friends — Popular Eejoicings and Processions — Morti- 
fication and Malignity of the King. 



The peers determined to commence the proceedings in this 
memorable cause by appointing a secret committee to examine 
the report of the Milan Commission, in order that they might be 
guided thereby in the adoption of their subsequent course. The 
queen by her counsel protested against any secret proceedings in 
the case whatever ; and demanded that she should be represented 
by her legal advisers before any inquisition which should apper- 
tain to the trial. The peers refused to acquiesce in this demand, 
and the secret committee proceeded to the performance of their 
duty. They made their report to the House on the first day of 
July, 1820; and they therein set forth that the documents de- 
nominated the Milan papers contained charges affecting the honor 
and tarnishing the character of the queen, which amounted in 
substance to the allegation of adultery ; and that these charges 
were accompanied by concurrent and corroborative testimony. 
After this report had been officially made, Lord Liverpool, on 
the part of the king, introduced his famous Bill of Pains and 
Penalties against the queen, involving the punishment of degra- 
dation and divorce. This event occurred in the British House of 
Peers, on the 5th of July, 1820. 



368 HISTORY OF THE FOUR, GEORGES. 

The first step of the defendant was to demand that she shoul 
be furnished with a statement of the specific charges made againsi 
her, together with the names of the intended witnesses, and th 
dates and places of the alleged offences. To this reasonabl 
request the lords refused to accede. The utmost minuteness ofe 
detail which was allowed the accused was a declaration that shij 
was charged with scandalous and vicious conduct with one Bar 
tholomew Bergami. A copy of the bill was served upon her by t 
Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt. She received it with a degree of emotion k 
which she was unable to conceal ; and remarked that, had the 
prosecution been commenced a quarter of a century earlier, it hac 
served the purpose of her royal husband better. She added thai 
the injustice of the course adopted by the ministers was apparent 
because they first condemned her by this bill without proof, and 
then proceeded to inquire what evidence might be obtained to 
justify the condemnation. 

The trial began in the House of Lords on the 17th of August. 
The queen had expressed her determination to be present during, 
its progress ; and to aid in the fulfilment of this purpose she 
obtained permission from the widow of Sir Philip Francis to 
occupy her residence in St. James's Square during the continuance 
of the proceedings. She therefore left Brandenburgh House, 
which was her stated residence, and removed temporarily to the 
quarters offered her. Her next door neighbor was her most 
zealous adversary, Lord Castlereagh. In her passage to and from 
the House of Lords she passed by Carlton House, the residence 
of her husband ; and she enjoyed the gratification of presenting to 
his detesting eyes each day the spectacle of the vast multitudes 
of the populace who escorted her carriage, and of saluting his ears 
with the unequivocal plaudits with which they greeted her. She 
was attended on these occasions by Lady Hamilton, by Alder- 
man Wood, and by her chamberlains Sir William Gell and Mr. 
Keppel Craven. On her arrival at the House she was received 
by Mr. Brougham and Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, and conducted by 
them to the apartment assigned to her use, or to her seat in the 
House, each holding her by the hand. 



LITE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 369 

ill The scene presented on this memorable occasion was not 
isdevoid of that imposing splendor and magnificence which usually 
ttend the great state trials which have occurred in the history of 
ritain. There were not indeed the same vast assemblage, the 
me collection of all that was noble, beautiful, and distinguished 
the realm, the same impressive ceremony and stately pageantry 
"•which attended the trial of Warren Hastings; nor the same 
niversal deluge of popular execration and fury which marked 
i: the hour when Charles I. and Lord Strafford defended their honor 
is and their lives against the most malignant and unrelenting of 
|J persecutors : nor were the interests at stake of such extensive 
■' moment and such vital importance to a great community, involv- 
ing the destinies of millions in the issue, as when that unhappy 
monarch vainly sought to stem the tide of death which was surg- 
ing resistlessly around him, and eventually submerged him 
beneath its billows. But there were other interests involved in 
this case which called forth intenser sympathy from every dis- 
passionate heart in the empire. There was a woman, well ad- 
vanced in years, a discarded wife and bereaved mother, who, after 
many years of sorrow and persecution from her husband, was 
compelled at last to confront the worst and most degrading 
calamity which his malignity could inflict. In one respect she 
was a stranger in a strange land. The monarch himself was her 
bitterest foe, and an obsequious nobility cringed at his feet ready 
to do his bidding against her. But she remained undaunted ; and 
declared that she felt secure in the consciousness of her innocence, 
and under the broad protection of a higher power than that of 
her husband — the protection of the British Constitution — yet in 
her case, even that Constitution was about to be violated, as it 
had never before been violated. She was to be tried for high 
crimes and misdemeanors, and was, when defending herself 
against a charge of adultery, to be deprived of the immemorial 
privilege, so ancient indeed that the memory of man ran not to 
the contrary, of being permitted to recriminate, and to hurl back 
upon the guilty head of the man who falsely accused her, and 
strove to drag her down to ruin, the same charge which he him- 
16* 



370 HISTORY OF THE FOUK GEORGES. 

self preferred against her ; and prove to the world that, while sh< 
was innocent, he was one of the most licentious and libertine 
of men. Though thus shorn of the rights which the humblest 
subject possessed — though her accuser was the highest in the 
realm, she boldly came forward to the scrutiny, and defied the 
combined power of her enemies.* Her character thus assumed 
an heroic attitude, and challenged not only sympathy but admi 
ration. Other elements of greatness marked the scene. The 
tribunal before which this dauntless woman thus appeared, com 
prised the most ancient, opulent, and illustrious nobility in the 
world. Among them were the descendants of men who had assist- 
ed at the laying of the foundation of the British Constitution, and 
of some who had extorted from the brutal but overborne King 
John the Magna Charta. There were others present whose an- 
cestors had taken a part in the most brilliant and the most tragi, 
cal events which had characterized English history during the 
long lapse of a thousand years ; and there were some who had 
themselves played a distinguished part in those great events which, 
during the opening years of the nineteenth century, had convulsed 
Europe, and had shattered all the thrones, dominions, and em- 
pires in the civilized world. 

The accused in this grand inquest was not unworthy of such 
judges. She was the descendant of an ancient line of princes, who, 
though not kings in rank, had been in some instances more illus 
trious for their genius and achievements than any contemporary 
king. She represented in her own person a portion of the 
highest dignity, in perhaps the greatest empire then existing, 
She belonged to that illustrious line of personages which included 
the stately Elizabeth, and the beautiful and fascinating Mary 
Queen of Scotts ; and she exhibited a dauntless spirit which 
would have ennobled either of them. If men possessing the 
matchless power of Fox, Sheridan, and Burke no longer figured 
on the scene, and threw over it the splendid and gorgeous halo 
of their genius, there were other actors there, who were worthy 

* Letter of Queen Caroline to the King on the subject of the Proceedings 
against her, with a Letter from Sir G. Noel. Edinburg, 1820. 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FOURTH. 371 

e to occupy their places, and inherit no inconsiderable portion of 
their fame. The injured queen was to be defended by the fervid 
' and declamatory eloquence, the keen and penetrating logic, the 
bold and scathing sarcasm of Brougham, her attorney, and by 
the accurate learning, the professional skill, and the clear, con- 
clusive reasoning of Mr. Denman, her solicitor. And that 
stately hall which had in former generations so often resound- 
ed with the overwhelming bursts of a Chatham, a Mansfield, 
and a Somers, was now destined to witness, for the last time, 
at least in that generation, a display of forensic genius which 
would compare favorably with the most renowned exhibitions of 
a similar description in preceding times. 

On the morning on which the trial commenced, the queen 
proceeded in state to the House, and entered while the roll of the 
peers was being called. She was plainly but elegantly attired in 
a black satin dress, with a white veil thrown over a plain laced 
hat. As she entered, all the peers rose to receive her, and she 
acknowledged the courtesy with that graceful dignity, in which 
she excelled all women when she chose to assume it. She was 
conducted to the handsome throne-like chair and cushion provi- 
ded for her, near her counsel, but within the bar. Several days 
were occupied in preliminary proceedings. On the 19th the 
attorney for the crown opened his case, setting forth the charges 
preferred against the accused. At the conclusion of his speech 
the examination of witnesses commenced. The first of these was 
the most important of all. He was Theodore Majocci, an Italian, 
who had been employed in the service of the queen during her 
continental tour. As soon as his ominous name was called, the 
queen exclaimed, " Oh ! the traitor ! " and withdrew instantly to 
her apartment adjacent to the hall. Majocci swore in substance 
that on the deck of the vessel in which the queen sailed a tent 
had been erected ; that the queen slept within that tent ; that Ber- 
gami her chamberlain also reposed there ; and that he frequently 
attended her when in the bath. The remainder of his evidence 
amounted to but little ; yet the impression produced by his testi- 
mony was at first deep and powerful. The adversaries of the 



372 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

queen began to exult, and her friends to be less confident. The 
populace, who believed Majoccito have been bribed and therefore 
unworthy of credence, became intensely irritated, which feeling] 
extended even to the troops who formed the garrison ; and it hasi 
been asserted by authorities worthy of belief that, had the Duke; 
of Kent, the most popular and most resolute prince of the royal 
family, been then alive, a revolution in his favor would have broken 
forth which would have shaken if it did not overturn the throne 
of George IV. But the next day the tide of victory turned. 
Majocci was subjected by Mr. Brougham to one of the most 
thorough and searching cross-examinations recorded in judicial 
annals. He tore his evidence to pieces with the power and faci- 
lity of a giant. He overwhelmed the witness with confusion, and 
even with terror. He dragged from him one contradiction after 
another, so that one portion of his testimony, completely rebutted 
the other. He proved by the witness himself that, though Ber- 
gami slept under the same tent with the queen, the tent itselfl 
was constantly open on all sides ; that the intense heat of the 
climate rendered such a usage necessary, as well as universally 
customary ; and that the prevalent light of an Italian sky 
made it easy for any intruder at any hour to see all that tran- 
spired beneath the loose folds of the tent. He proved that, 
though Bergami had attended ' the queen in the bath, she uni- 
formly on such occasions wore a bathing dress which prevented 
the least indecorous exposure of the person. Every other point 
of this witness's testimony was rebutted and invalidated in the 
same effective manner.* 

The examination of other witnesses followed, all of whose 
testimony only proved that, encouraged by the greater licence of 
continental manners, the queen had been guilty of what, accord- 
ing to English views of decorum, would be stigmatized as 
gross impropriety and very great imprudence, both in language 
and in conduct. But of satisfactory and competent evidence of 

* See the Trial at Large of Her Majesty Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, Queen 
of Great Britain, in the Rouse of Lords, &c. 2 vols. Manchester : Gleave, 
1821. Vol. ii., p. 210, et eeq. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 373 

actual guilt, or of evidence which, by a fair and reasonable infer- 
ence, would conclusively prove to an impartial mind that positive 
igjguilt had been in any case incurred, there was absolutely none. 
is The testimony was all concluded by the 7th of September. The 
e house adjourned till the 3d of October. Mr. Brougham then 
J entered on the defense of his client in a speech of extraordinary 
i power, which in turn exhibited magnificent displays of oratorical 
» ability, of resistless logic, of bold and scathing sarcasm, of tender 
, and affecting pathos. That speech is immortal in English his- 
t tory. He was followed by his associate, in an oration which, if 
I not quite equal to that of Mr. Brougham, was still worthy of the 
: occasion. During its delivery he gave utterance to one burst 
which for impressiveness and effect reminded the hearer of 
some of the best passages of the great masters of English rhetoric 
and forensic genius. Turning his eagle eye toward the Duke of 
Clarence, who had once been the ardent friend of the queen, but 
had become her bitterest enemy, he raised his sonorous voice and ex- 
claimed in a tone of thunder : " Come forth, thou slanderer ! " in 
allusion to the earnest activity exhibited by the Duke in the pro- 
secution of the accused. The orator's power was evinced by the 
terror which racked the spirit of the princely personage, who 
was thus made the deserving victim of his overwhelming bolt.* 

The testimony which was produced in behalf of the queen 
proved, that some of her English attendants who had deserted her 
when abroad, had not discovered any improprieties in her conduct, 
and had left her only on account of ill-health. Others declared that 
all the acts of impropriety charged and proved in her conduct 
in Italy, were permitted by the universally prevalent customs 
of that country, and in themselves involved no guilt, nor even any 
impropriety. Mr. Craven proved that he himself had selected 
Bergami as the chamberlain of the queen, and that he brought 
most excellent testimonials of character with him. After the 
evidence for the defense closed, the deliberations of the peers 
commenced. Contrary to their usual custom their debates were 
stormy. When at last the vote was taken on one clause of the 

* See Richard Rush's Residence at the Court of St. James. 



374 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

Bill, the majority against the queen was twenty-eight. Wher 
the clause touching the divorce was voted upon, their majority 
was only nine against the defendant. As this was the precise 
number of peers who composed the cabinet, this ballot instead oij 
being a victory was in reality a defeat. In this emergency the 
ministers resolved to make a virtue of necessity, and abandon the^ 
prosecution, while they seemed to have the eclat of at least a 
nominal triumph. But that triumph was only nominal. In the 
opinion of the nation, the accused had at last conquered the most 
formidable combination which was ever arrayed against a British 
queen ; and she was yet, in spite of the utmost exertions of the 
haughty monarch of the British empire, his lawful wife, and the 
partner of his power. The exultation of the populace at this 
result was intense beyond all parallel ; and their joy was ex-: 
hibited in a variety of ways which must have been as annoying to 
the king, as they were grateful to his discarded wife. 

Immediately after the withdrawal of the Bill the queen applied 
to Lord Liverpool to be furnished with a suitable residence and: 
provision as Queen Consort. He replied that, though the king 
would not permit her to reside in any of the royal palaces, she 
should regularly receive the fifty thousand pounds per year 
which was her present allowance. About the same period she 
received the communion in the parish church at Hammersmith ; 
and on the 29th of November she proceeded in as much state as 
she could muster to the cathedral of St. Paul, to return thanks to 
God for her escape from the assaults of her enemies. The indig- 
nant king did his utmost to render this event insignificant and 
abortive. To some extent he succeeded. No change took place 
in the appointed service of the day ; her whole court consisted 
of her vice-chancellor Mr. Craven ; but her attendance comprised 
a vast multitude of the populace of London, some on foot, on 
horseback, and in vehicles. Conspicuous in the procession were 
the various trades ; among whom the braziers distinguished them- 
selves by perpetrating a significant pun. On their banner were 
inscribed the words : " The Queen's Guards are Men of Metal." 
The day passed by without tumult or accident ; and the queen 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 375 

ai returned to Brandenburgh House to the enjoyment of that seclu- 
tysion and quiet which she imperatively needed * 

se 

DC * It was a significant circumstance, which exhibited the intensity with which 
3eorge IV. hated his unhappy spouse, and which at the same time displayed tho 
despicable subserviency of some of the clergy of the Establishment to the be- 
16 bests of those in high places, even though they were the most infamous of men, 
j that the parenthetical clause in the prayer of general thanksgiving, which is in- 
tended for any individual who desires to offer thanks and gratitude to God, and 
which was very appropriate to the purpose of the queen on this occasion, and 
was intended to be used by her, was omitted, contrary to the established custom 
and obligation, by the officiating priest, while the queen was upon her knees on 
the floor of the cathedral ! It would be difficult to discover a more disgraceful 
instance of the want of Christian feeling, even in the annals of ecclesiastical 
bigotry and perfidy. 



CHAPTEB YI. 



;: 



Preparations for the Coronation of George IV. — Intense interest felt by him in the Cere- 
mony — Determination of Queen Caroline to be present — Efforts made to dissuade 
her from so doing — Her Unconquerable Obstinacy — Splendor and Magnificence of' r 
the Ceremony — Effort of the Queen to gain admission to the Abbey — Her Igno- 1 !f 
minious Failure — Her Dreadful Mortification — The effect produced by it upon her 
Health — Her immediate and rapid Decline— Her Death— Her Character — Malignant 
Hatred of her Husband— His Joy at her Death — Removal of her Remains to Bruns- 
wick — Her Burial. 



A distinguished event in the life of so commonplace a per 
sonage as George IV., was the ceremony of his coronation, which i 
took place on the 19th of July, 1821. He had set his heart 
upon rendering this celebration of the most ancient of the stately 
pomps and pageantries of England, unequalled for its imposing 
magnificence. The necessary preparations had been in progress 
during many months. All the resources of mechanical art, of 
antiquarian learning, and of heraldic skill in the realm, were called 
into requisition and tasked to the utmost. A million pounds 
were expended by an unwilling people, whose national debt 
already exceeded the debts of all other nations on the globe, in 
order to increase the eclat and the splendors of one of the most 
undeserving of mankind. George IV. employed the labor of 
entire days in rehearsing his part ; and he displayed the childish 
ardor of an overgrown boy, in enacting that portion of the gor- 
geous mummeries which would fall to his share. The costume 
which he was destined to wear on the occasion, became a matter 
of insatiable and absorbing interest to his mind ; he entered into 
long discussions with his friends in reference to the most puerile 
questions of colors, fashions, contrasts, and effects ; and when at 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 377 

ast the jewelled robes which were to deck his stately person 
yere completed, he had no rest until one of his servants was 
rrayed in their ample and glittering folds, and paraded up and 
iown before him with an assumed and fictitious air of kingly 
lignity, such as he himself exhibited on all public occasions. 

The unhappy and injured wife of the man who was to be 
he chief figure in these expensive but transient grandeurs, was 
tot invited to take the least share in them. In May, preceding 
he event, she addressed a letter to Lord Liverpool, setting forth 
hat, as Queen Consort, it was her right and intention to partici 
>ate with her husband in the ceremonial. The prime minister 
eplied that his majesty had determined, for various conclusive 
•easons, that she should not be recognized in any way in the pro- 
ceedings, and that consequently she could not even be permitted 
.o be present. Her legal advisers, Messrs. Brougham and Den- 
nan, then demanded a hearing in her behalf, before the Privy 
Council. Their request was complied with, as a matter of form ; 
uit after an elaborate argument had been made on both sides, 
;hat tribunal decided that the Queen Consort of England was not 
ntitled of right to be crowned at any time ; much less could she 
jlaim to be crowned at any particular period which she might 
lesignate ; and that the presence of the queen on the approach- 
ing occasion, as it must be irregular and unauthorized, and as it 
might lead to serious difficulties, must be absolutely forbidden 
and prevented. 

But the resolute Caroline was not to be thus satisfied and quiet- 
ed. She determined with her usual imprudence and obstinacy 
to disturb and tarnish the splendor of a pageant in which she 
could have no honorable share ; and thus to mortify the man 
whom of all others she most intensely and most reasonably 
hated. She formally notified the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl 
Marshal of the realm, of her intention to be present ; and re- 
quested that his grace would make proper preparations to receive 
her. This demand the earl civilly evaded, and declared that it 
was impossible for him to obey her command. She then ad- 
dressed a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, setting forth 



378 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

her desire to be crowned either on the same day and in the same 
ceremony with her husband, or very soon afterward. But the 
crafty churchman answered that he was ready at any moment tc 
obey any commands which he might receive from his majesty,; 
The queen terminated these futile and vexatious preliminaries 
by sending the king a sarcastic protest, declaring his proposed 
coronation informal, unjust and invalid. Thus far indeed the 
conduct of the unfortunate princess was consistent, defiant, and 
not undignified ; and had she stopped at this point, it had been 
well for her future happiness and reputation. But such a degree 
of prudence and moderation was not to be found among the char- 
acteristics of Caroline of Brunswick. She resolved to go much 
further, and was eventually guilty of extremes of impropriety 
and violence, which deprived her of the sympathy of the nation,! 
and rendered her conduct and character repulsive and ridiculous 
in the highest degree. 

At length the memorable coronation day of George IV. 
dawned upon the world in serene brightness and splendor.' 
Five hundred thousand people crowded the streets of the metrop- 
olis, to become witnesses of different portions of the proceedings. 
Westminster Abbey, the most venerable and imposing edifice in 
the kingdom, was fitted up with gorgeous hangings and glitter- 
ing canopies, to add impressive effect to the ceremonies. The 
far-extending galleries which occupy a portion of the stately pile, 
were crowded, at an early hour, with all that was most noble, 
beautiful, and distinguished in the realm. The central space in 
front of the chief altar was graced by a platform, supporting a 
throne of imposing splendor, which was surrounded by a host of 
illustrious personages who were to enact a part on the memora- 
ble occasion. The body of the building, and the capacious aisles 
were appropriated to a miscellaneous and martial host, whose 
waving plumes, military costumes, and polished arms added to 
the grandeur and majesty of the scene. The king proceeded in 
great state from Carlton House to the Abbey ; and there, after 
being robed, he took his seat on the throne, and the ceremonies 
began. So far as outward appearance was concerned, he looked 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 379 

M indeed like a monarch. The proceedings were long, and the cer- 
l» emonial tedious. Many distinguished noblemen figured in the 
pageant. Lord Londonderry, who was arrayed in the magnifi- 
cent robes of the Garter, was a splendid representation of the 
Order established by Edward III., among whose members so 
many illustrious persons had been enrolled. The Marquis of An- 
glesea, though he had left a severed leg to moulder on the blood- 
stained plain of Waterloo, still exhibited unrivalled skill in the 
management of his horse, and was especially admired ; and in 
this respect the animal divided equally with his courtly rider the 
enthusiastic praise of the brilliant assemblage, by retiring back- 
ward from the hall, easily, decorously, and without any accident. 
The Champion of England was represented by the youthful Dy- 
moke ; who threw down his gauntlet with a very imposing air 
of defiance to all the world. But the most interesting personage 
who appeared on the occasion, and to whom all eyes were direct- 
ed with intense curiosity, because he was a real, and not merely 
a scenic hero, was the Duke of Wellington. He took a prom- 
inent part in the ceremonies ; and no one could look upon his 
rigid features, battered by the storms of a hundred conflicts, with- 
out reflecting how, in the stern presence of the great master spirits 
of the world, those whom birth and accident have pushed forward 
and upward into prominence, dwindle into their native and 
genuine insignificance. The evidence of this fact was specially seen 
in the box which was assigned to the foreign ambassadors ; which 
itself contained many personages who had played a distinguished 
part in the events of their time. That box glittered as if in a blaze 
of light, in consequence of the profusion of jewels which were worn 
by its occupants. Prince. Esterhazy, the Austrian ambassador, 
was arrayed in a dress, the value of which was a hundred thou- 
sand pounds. Other representatives of foreign potentates almost 
equalled the magnificence which he displayed. Yet the interest 
of all these high and great personages was constantly centred on 
the person and the proceedings of the conqueror of the Corsican. 
He bore himself proudly throughout the imposing mummery ; 
and even the king, who enjoyed such stately scenes with exquis- 



380 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

ite relish, expressed his unqualified admiration of the immortal 
Duke. The declining sun cast his mellowed rays through the 
stained windows of the vast Gothic edifice, throwing a golden 
radiance over the whole majestic scene, before the lengthy cere- 
monies were terminated. During one day at least, George IV. 
was satiated with glory — with that species of grandeur of which 
alone he was capable. At length all was over ; the crowned 
king and his crowd of nobles returned in state to the royal pal- 
ace ; the vast assemblage retired from the abbey ; and the 
inhabitants of the capital celebrated the occasion in their 
myriad homes, during the ensuing night, by festivals, bonfires, 
and every species of popular exultation. 

But a single incident occurred on this day which threatened 
to mar its pomp and splendor. At six o'clock in the morning, 
Queen Caroline, burning with indignation and eager in her ob- 
stinacy, proceeded from her residence in a carriage drawn by six 
horses to Westminster Abbey. She was accompanied by Lord 
and Lady Hood, and Lady Anne Hamilton, her most intimate 
friends, who in fact then constituted her whole suit. She took 
this desperate step in defiance of the earnest solicitations of Mr. 
Brougham, her chief legal adviser, who readily perceived the un- 
fortunate results which would inevitably ensue from it. But no 
power on earth could change her purpose ; and she hastened to 
execute it. As she passed along the streets, she was greeted by 
the noisy acclamations of the multitude. Having arrived at the 
Abbey, she descended from her carriage amid long and deafening 
shouts. She advanced between the lines of soldiery to the chief 
door, followed by her three friends. Her manner was stately, 
self-possessed, and resolute. Having reached the door, she ap- 
proached the officer on guard, stated that she was the queen, and 
demanded admission to the interior. The officer declined to let 
her pass, on the ground that his orders were to admit no one 
who was not provided with a ticket. Lord Hood then spoke, 
and claimed exemption for her in consequence of her rank. 
The officer nevertheless refused to admit her, even though she 
were, as she said, the Queen of England. During the progress 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE FOUETH. 381 

• 

of this parley, the multitude which surrounded the edifice main- 
tained unbroken silence, anxious to see what would be the issue 
11 of the strange and doubtful crisis. Caroline then addressed the 
officer sternly, and exclaimed : " I am your queen ; permit me 
to enter ; it is my right." In vain she repeated the demand ; the 
obstinate official refused to comply ; and the company of soldiers 
who stood at his back were ready to enforce obedience to his 
orders. Perceiving at length that it would be impossible to suc- 
ceed at the chief entrance, the discomfited queen hurried along 
the platform from one side door to another, repeating at each of 
them her demand for admittance, and receiving at each a pos- 
itive, and even an insulting denial. At last, having exhausted 
every means of solicitation and intimidation in vain, she was 
rudely turned off the platform by several of the attendant sol- 
diery. Here her resolute heart failed her, as well it might ; for 
she now stood in the curious and derisive gaze of the multitude, 
attempting to laugh, while in reality the tears of mortification 
and rage were forcing their way to her eyes, and rolling down 
her cheeks. She looked around her, as she moved irresolutely, 
sometimes appealing by her troubled glances to the people who 
had so shortly before applauded her, but who now remained 
dumb and indifferent in the moment of her greatest necessity ; 
and sometimes looking at the edifice which she had so unwisely 
endeavored to enter, but from which she had been so ignomin- 
iously excluded. As she stood in this painful reverie, the distant 
sounds of the approach of her huband's gorgeous cortege reached 
her ears. In a few moments he would pass along that same 
platform arrayed in the extreme of human pomp. Even the de- 
termined and inflexible spirit of Caroline quailed at suffering such 
an encounter as that would have been ; and she had but time to 
hasten to her carriage, followed by her three friends, and drive 
rapidly away, before the head of the procession which escorted the 
exultant king appeared in sight. The unfortunate queen retired 
to her residence, but she carried back with her a poisoned barb 
which was destined to rankle and fester in her heart, until the 
agony of life became unendurable. She was conscious that she 



382 HISTORY OF THE EOTTK GEORGES. 

had lost the applause of the populace ; that she had incurred th( 
derision of the nation ; and that her hostile and malignant hus 
band had at last, in consequence of her own imprudence, gainec 
a decisive victory over her, in which he would rejoice, and over 
which she would mourn, as long as the hitter drama of her ex- 
istence continued. 

A few days after the coronation, the king celebrated the event! 
by giving a sumptuous banquet at Carlton House. The royal 
family were all in attendance, except the queen, and the Duke oi 
Sussex, who entertained friendly sentiments toward her. Th© 
chief nobility of the realm, the foreign ambassadors, and many 
eminent statesmen were also present. The company arrived at 
seven in the evening, and remained till two o'clock the next morn- 
ing. The entire dinner service was of gold ; and its magnifi 
cence was unsurpassed by any previous display of royal or im- 
perial opulence in Europe. In a festive scene, George IV. was 
in his element, as much as on any occasion of pompous parade ; 
and he presided at this dinner with more than his usual dignity 
and grace. Here also the Duke of Wellington was in reality 
the chief personage present, and was the object of general atten- 
tion to the most brilliant assemblage in the world. 

While these joyful scenes were progressing at the Carl- 
ton Palace, the heart of Queen Caroline was breaking in the 
seclusion of her own home at Brandenburg House. The agita- 
tion and excitement to which she had been subject for many 
months, together with the deep chagrin and mortification with 
which she had been afflicted on the coronation day, produced a 
diseased state of her system which proved to be beyond the reach 
of human remedy. Her physicians were Doctors Maten, War- 
ren, and Holland. From the beginning the royal patient seemed 
to be conscious that her case was hopeless, and that her malady 
was incurable. Her mind was diseased. A deadly canker 
gnawed at her very heart. She felt that she had not established 
the entire innocence of her conduct in the estimation of the na- 
tion ; that the abandonment of the Bill of Pains and Penalties by 
her enemies had not rescued her character from moral degrada- 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE FOURTH. 383 

Ik tion ; and that her unfortunate attempt to participate in the cer- 

is smonies of the coronation, and her baffled efforts to disturb and 

i defeat them, both by her own conduct, and by the anticipated 

« co-operation and violence of her friends, had deprived her of the 

popular sympathy, and overwhelmed her with universal ridicule. 

She henceforth furnished one of the most memorable examples 

on record, of the truth of those oracular words uttered by the 

great bard of Avon in reference to another queen, more gifted, 

| more guilty, but not more miserable than she : 

" Thou canst not minister to a mind diseased ; 
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow ; 
Raze out the written troubles of the brain ; 
And with some sweet oblivious antidote, 
Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff 
Which weighs upon the heart." 

The queen's illness assumed a serious aspect on the second 
of August. A bulletin was issued on that day, which announced 
that she was suffering severely from internal inflammation and 
obstruction. Having from the first attack anticipated a fatal issue, 
she declared herself willing and ready to terminate an existence 
which to her had long been one of unmingled sorrow and misery. 
She calmly executed her will ; gave many directions to her at- 
tendants in reference to her personal affairs ; ordered the private 
diary which she had kept for many years to be destroyed ; spoke 
charitably of all her enemies ; gave express directions that her body 
should be transported after her death to her native Brunswick ; and 
that upon her tomb should be inscribed the following words : 
I Here lies Caroline of Brunswick, the injured Queen of England." 
Having given these last commands she rapidly grew worse. 
During five days her sufferings were intense. At length, on the 
morning of the 7th of August, 1821, this unfortunate woman, 
whose life had been one of singular vicissitude, and of wonderful 
extremes, sank into the arms of death, without a struggle. In 
her last moments she was surrounded by Lord and Lady Hood, 
and by Lady Hamilton. Alderman Wood, one of her best 
friends, and all her legal advisers and physicians, were also in 



: 



384 HISTOKY OF THE FOTJK GEORGES. 

attendance in an adjoining apartment. The queen expired in he' 
fifty-fourth year. She had spent eighteen years in England, in 
state of hostility against her husband ; and some additional 
years she had passed in travelling over the continent, mingi * 
ling in scenes which, if not guilty and culpable, were at leasl i 
indecorous, imprudent, and suspicious in the highest degree.') 
Yet many excuses may be urged in her behalf. She had beei 
reared without any particular moral instruction ; and her parents 
had never permitted her to unite with any church, in ordei) 
that she might be the more free to accept any desirable mate* 
which would in subsequent life be offered ; and that she might! 
more easily espouse the religion of her husband, whether it were 
Roman Catholic, Greek, or Protestant. Her mother had been i 
vain, frivolous, and unprincipled woman ; her father, a vicious 
reckless, and daring adventurer. She passed from the moral in 
fluence and example of such questionable persons, to the society 
of the most licentious and debauched prince of his age ; a mam 
who entertained no respect for women ; who was governed by 
no moral principles whatever ; whose passions were fierce and; 
uncontrollable ; whose pride and arrogance were unbounded 
and who was totally unfit in every respect to render her happy, 
virtuous, or useful. And after their mutual hostilities began, the 
indignities which her husband heaped upon her, and the innumer- 
able provocations with which he irritated her, necessarily pro 
voiced her to acts of imprudence and violence from which, under 
other circumstances, she might have recoiled. And even in the 
worst view which can be taken of her conduct, she must ever ap- 1 
pear as an angel of light when compared with the individual] 
who traduced, and attempted to ruin her. Had she been even i 
a Messalina, her husband would have had no right to have 
condemned her ; for he consigned her directly to the society 

* See Gynecocracy ; with an Essay on Fornication, Adultery, and Incest. 
By the Author of "Rumors of Treason," {Richard Carlyle). London: Stock- 
dale, 1821. 8vo. This work, which is rarely accessible, was written by a vio- 
lent partisan ; but while some of its statements may seem to be of doubtful 
veracity, its contents are in general interesting and valuable. 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE FOUETH. 385 

I his own paramours and prostitutes ; and these rivals gratified 
leir jealousy by rendering her hateful and repulsive to her hus- 
md, and by finally driving her, through their spiteful persecu- 
ons, to leave his residence. All these indignities were pallia- 
ons of her faults, and should diminish the censure which the 
Everest critic of human conduct and character could inflict upon 
jr memory. 

The vengeance and malignity of George IV. pursued even the 
feless corpse of his unfortunate queen. She had expressed the 
ssire that not till after a delay of three days should her remains 

carried to Brunswick for interment. The king ordered that 
»ey should be immediately conveyed to Harwich for embarka- 
on. Lady Hood was justly shocked, as were indeed all the 
lends of the deceased princess, at this disgraceful haste ; and she 
Idressed a letter to Lord Liverpool, declaring that it would be 
npossible for the ladies of the queen to make the necessary 
reparations for travelling in so short a time. The reply stated 
iat no alteration could be made in the arrangements which had 
Ben designated ; and that if the queen's ladies were not furnish- 
1 in time with the appropriate mourning apparel, they might 
main behind. The most direct route to Harwich passed 
trough the city of London ; but as the metropolitan populace 
tight make some demonstration favorable to the deceased, 
le king ordered that the cortege should proceed by a cir- 
litous route to Romford, and thence to Harwich. The prepa- 
itions which were made for the funeral were mean and con- 
'.mptible in the extreme. Never before had any Queen of Eng 
,nd been buried with such a beggarly display. The rain fell in 
>rrents and added to the dismal aspect of the scene. When the 
jvernment officials entered the room where the body lay, in 
rder to remove it, Dr. Lushington and Mr. Wilde, the exec- 
tors of the queen, protested formally against the indecent haste 
id insufficient preparations which characterized the whole pro- 
sedings. They protested in vain ; and the unconscious and dis- 
Dnored corpse commenced its last mournful journey. It was 
;tended by a meagre array of cavalry ; and its progress was 
17 



386 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

marked by no incident of importance till it reached Kensingt<, 
Church. Here the direct route through the capital was desertej 
and the line of march was taken through Church street into Baj 
water Road ; but a wild burst of indignation from the immeni 
crowd assailed the cortege ; and as soon as it was perceived thj 
this protest produced no effect, the highway was dug up, barj 
cades were erected, and further progress in that direction wj 
rendered impossible. The guards and the police at first indicate 
a disposition to force their passage ; but the determined mann, 
of the populace soon convinced them of the impossibility of aj 
complishing their purpose. The order was then given to procei* 
directly through London; and then a yell of triumph arose fro: 
myriads of throats, which might almost have waked the departo 
queen from the icy slumber of death. When the procession i 
rived at Park Lane, another conflict ensued between the popula 
and the military, which ended more seriously. The latter wei 
assailed with missiles, and many of them were seriously wount 
ed. They fired a volley in return into the serried mass, and tv 
persons were killed, and several others were dangerously injure^ 
This decisive conduct on the part of the troops diminished tl 
ardor of the people only for a time ; for when the corpse a 
rived at Tottenham Court Road, an impenetrable multitude coi 
pelled its bearers to turn again southward toward the city, ai 
to pass through Drury Lane into the Strand. The friends of tY 
unfortunate woman thus triumphed at last, after a conflict < 
seven hours ; during which the unhonored remains of a Britii" 
queen had been dragged sometimes slowly, sometimes at an i» 
decent pace, through the rain and mud, toward their distant des 
nation. During the intervening night, the corpse was placed 
St. Peter's Church in Colchester ; and while the silent hou 
were wearing away, a silver plate, bearing upon its front tl 
chosen words of the dying Caroline — "The injured Queen 
England " — was mysteriously affixed to the lid of the coffi 
But this plate was removed as soon as the morning light reveah 
its unwelcome presence to the agents and servants of the kin 
When the corpse reached the port of Harwich, it was transfers 



LIFE AKD KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FOURTH. 387 

m board the frigate Glasgow, which was accompanied by several 
ither vessels. A small group of silent mourners attended the 

emains as they were thus dispatched to their last resting place, 
[tie faithful friends who had adhered to the varying fortunes of 
he queen during life and in death, did not desert her clay tene- 
nent in that hour of sad and melancholy loneliness. These were 

ord and Lady Hood, Lady Hamilton, Mr. Austin, Dr. Lushing- 
on and his wife, and Count Vasali. Having safely crossed the 
channel, the squadron sailed up the Elbe, and landed its burden 
it Stade. Thence it was conveyed by land to Brunswick, the 
latal spot of her who had experienced such strange vicissitudes 
)f fate and fortune. At the solemn hour of midnight, on the 24th 
)f August, the remains were deposited in the vault of the ducal 
amily, beneath the Cathedral of St. Blaize, in the capital of the 
Duchy ; on her coffin was placed a plate which set forth her age 
ind several of the prominent incidents of her life ; and she was 
aid at last to repose between the coffins of two remarkable men, 
ier father and her brother, the former of whom fell at Jena, 
7ainly resisting the colossal power of Napoleon, the latter at 
Waterloo, in the hour of exultant victory and glory. The cere- 
nonies which attended the burial of this unhappy princess were 
lot such as decency demanded ; because the Duchy of Brunswick 
svas at that period an appendage to the British crown, the hered- 
itary Duke being yet a minor ; and George IV. carried the grat- 
ification of his insatiable hatred to the last recorded incident of 
bis wife's earthly career, and scarcely permitted her inanimate 
remains to escape ignominy and persecution even amid the 
ghastly solitude and gloom of the grave. Thus ended in sadness 
md shame the memorable career of Caroline Amelia Elizabeth 
Df Brunswick. Her character was one of a mixed and an equiv- 
ocal nature. Her intellectual powers were above the ordinary 
range ; she was intelligent, witty, and sagacious. She was 
strong and firm in her friendships ; bitter, yet not implacable, in 
her hatreds. Her nature was generous, liberal, and completely 
levoid of that quality which is the most requisite attribute of 
courtiers, and of those who have to deal with them — she was en- 



388 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

tirely free from guile and perfidy. Her chief fault was her reek 
less imprudence, and her contempt of female delicacy. Neverthe 
less, as these defects appeared only at a later period of her career 
after she had suffered years of persecution and ignominy fron 
her husband, it is probable that, had her heart not been sourec 
and her mind alienated by unmerited suffering, she would hav< 
remained through life an estimable woman, not destitute of wo 
man's greatest jewel. 



red 

ran 



CHAPTER VII. 



Death of the Duke of Kent— Historic Portrait of his Life— His early Education— His 
Residence at Geneva — His Sudden Flight to England — Tyranny of George III. — The 
Duke is ordered to Gibraltar — His Poverty — His Campaign in the "West Indies — His 
Residence in Canada — He is appointed Governor of Gibraltar — Character of his Ad- 
ministration — He returns to England — His Debts — His Marriage with the Princess 
of Leinengen — His Residence at Amoorback — Birth of the Princess Victoria — The 
Duke of Clarence — George IV. visits Ireland, Scotland, and Hanover — Abilities of 
Mr. Huskisson — Financial state of the Empire — Valuable servioes of Mr. Canning. 



George IV. received the news of the death of the queen with a 
joy which he could not conceal. The great plague of his exist- 
ence was at last removed ; and that notorious and infamous 
scandal which his domestic vices and family feuds had engendered 
throughout the world would thenceforth be diminished. A short 
time previous to this event other incidents had occurred in the 
royal family which possessed a public interest, and demand a 
place in our history. On the 23d of January, 1820, Edward 
Augustus, Duke of Kent, expired, in the fifty-third year of his 
age. He was the fourth son of George III., and was born in 1767. 
His life had been an unhappy and gloomy one, for he was always 
disliked by his parents, hated by his brothers, and persecuted by 
his enemies ; yet, in spite of them all, he subsequently became 
the father of a young princess who inherited, under the name of 
Victoria, that very sceptre whose repulsive and hostile influence 
had so much afflicted him. 

The first preceptor of the young Duke of Kent was Dr. 
Fisher, afterward Bishop of Exeter and Salisbury. In his eigh- 
teenth year he was sent to Luneburg, in Hanover, to pursue his 
military studies under Baron Wangenheim. He here com- 



390 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

menced to feel the miseries of that parsimonious allowance of' ft 
money, which was one of his greatest calamities through life! fe 1 
His father gave him only a thousand pounds a year; and thi|ji 
half of this sum stuck to the adhesive fingers of his preceptor, bej jtl 
fore the balance reached his own. Coeval in point of time witlj u 
his poverty, the chief defect of the prince was developed. This} lei 
was a great disposition to extravagance. None of the sons ofj fc 
George III. ever appeared to possess the least conception of thei k 
value of money ; and all of them were annoyed by the misfon n 
tunes which such ignorance inevitably entails. In May, 1786.1 v, 
the prince was promoted to the rank of Colonel in the army by hi 
brevet ; and soon after, he was chosen Knight of the Garter.i n 
In 1787 he removed to Geneva, in accordance with the command I 
of his royal father. He was still under the authority of the sterni » 
Wangenheim, who plundered him as usual of one-half of his al4 
lowance. Here his Eoyal Highness began to comprehend the* 
indescribable pertinacity and infelicity which are involved in the>' 
idea of a dun ; and he never became practically free from a fa- 
miliar acquaintance with that disgusting knowledge till the day 
of his death. While he dwelt at Geneva, he began the habit of 
borrowing money at immense interest ; and thus loaded himself 
with burdens which adhered to him pertinaciously during life. 
It is true that, like all princes of the blood, he was subjected to 
innumerable appeals for aid, and to potent temptations to vice; 
and this circumstance constitutes his chief excuse. He was also 
afflicted by other unseemly annoyances. His valet was in re- 
ality a spy upon his conduct, and was in his father's pay ; while 
Wangenheim, one of the most inflexible and unendurable of men, 
was still in authority over him. 

The prince became of age in 1788 ; yet he endeavored to en- 
dure his disagreeable position some time longer. At length it 
became insupportable ; and in January, 1790, he suddenly deter- 
mined, in spite of the positive prohibition of his father, to return 
to England, and lay his grievances in person before him. Ac- 
cordingly he arrived at night unheralded in London, took lodg- 
ings at a hotel in King Street, and sent word to his brother, the 



i 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 391 

rince of "Wales, of his unexpected presence. The prince immed- 
iately visited him, and brought him to Carlton House. Here 
e was joined by the Duke of York, and the three consulted to- 
ll ether in terror as to what was then best to be done. It was 
t nally agreed that the Duke of York, who stood best with 
ni reorge III., should inform him of the ax-rival of the Duke of 
j [ent, and should obtain for him an audience. He did so, but 
hi he wrath of the monarch at the disobedience of his unhappy son 
j tras overwhelming. He would listen to no excuse ; he would 
.ccept no palliation of his crime ; and his presence in London was 
,n act of the most daring and deliberate defiance of his royal 
uthority. In vain, during thirteen successive days, did the 
oung Duke of Kent endeavor to propitiate his father by every 
jossible expedient. On the fourteenth, he received a sealed 
official paper. It contained an order for him to embark for Gib- 
raltar within twenty-four hours. Immediately before his depar- 
ture, he was allowed an audience of five minutes' duration, and 
ihen received an outfit of five hundred pounds. 

At Gibraltar the Duke was placed under the care of General 
Symes, a man of some intelligence and feeling ; and thus the un- 
happy prince was at last released from the surveillance of the 
detested Wangenheirn. While residing at Gibraltar, he became 
interested in military tactics, and became something of a disci- 
plinarian, both over himself and over those whom he was per- 
mitted to command. His rank was then Colonel of the Royal 
Fusileers ; and from Gibraltar he and his regiment were ordered 
to Quebec. At this period he was already greatly in debt ; and 
his residence at Gibraltar had increased their aggregate to twenty 
thousand pounds. His position at Quebec was rendered un- 
pleasant in many respects, chiefly from want of adequate sup- 
port ; and he endeavored to release himself from the intricate 
coil of entanglements which enveloped him, by removing to a 
distant scene of military service. He requested and obtained an 
appointment under Sir Charles Grey, who was at that time en- 
gaged in hostilities against the French in the West Indies. 

The Duke of Kent was not deficient in personal bravery. At 



392 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

the capture of Guadaloupe in April, 1794, he led on the firs 
division to the attack, and he exhibited such gallantry as to exj 
tort unqualified praise from the Commander-in-Chief, in hi:- 
official report to the government. Thus, at the age of twenty 
seven, he obtained distinction in an honorable profession. Wher 
the British nation received information of the intrepidity whicl 
the prince had displayed, the unusual spectacle excited thein 
warmest applause, and their representatives in Parliament passec 
a vote of thanks for his " gallant conduct and meritorious exer- 
tions." Similar honors were bestowed upon him by the Irish 
Parliament. But as philosophy cannot make a Juliet, neither 
can public honors liquidate debts ; and the mortifications and 
difficulties of the lavish and generous prince increased constantly 
in every position in which he was placed. During his residence 
at Martinique, he was destitute of every thing except the clothes; 
upon his person.* It is indeed difficult to account for the indif- 
ference which George III. exhibited to the wants and the troubles 
of his son, which sometimes were so great as to render his royal 
relationship contemptible, and the subject of popular dei'ision. 
It is presumed that the prince had incurred the inveterate repug- 
nance of his narrow-minded and inflexible father, by his extreme- 
ly liberal principles ; and that all his calamities were to be at- 
tributed to that cause. The prince himself declared, in a letter 
written from the West Indies, that " the wish entertained about 
him, in certain quarters, when serving here, was that he might 
fall." 

At the end of his campaign in the West Indies, the Duke was 
ordered to return to Canada. At this period his allowance was 
raised by Parliament to the sum of twelve thousand pounds per 
year ; and soon after he received the appointment of Commander- 
in-chief of the forces in British North America. Ill health soon 
compelled him to resign this difficult post ; but as if to remove 
him as far and as continually as was possible from his relatives 

* See Life of Field Marshal His Royal Highness, Edioard, Buke of Kent. 
By the Rev. Brshine Male, If. A., Rector of Kirton. London : Bentley, 1850, 
p. 149. 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE FOUKTH. 393 

and his country, he was ordei-ed to assume the vacant Governor- 
e: ship of Gibraltar — a position still more onerous and undesirable 
a than that which he had deserted, in consequence of the extreme 
insubordination and disaffection which at that time pervaded the 
i whole garrison. The Duke arrived at Gibraltar in May, 1802 ; 
and he immediately discovered that he had undertaken a repul- 
ej sire, and even a dangerous task. Discipline was entirely re- 
e< laxed ; drunkenness universally prevailed, both among officers 
and privates ; hostility existed between the soldiery and the in- 
habitants of the town ; and every possible species of abuse and 
a vice was openly indulged. The fortress might very properly be 
compared to an Augean stable, whose vast and foul pollutions 
none but a modern Hercules could cleanse. At first, the new 
governor looked on the spectacle in silent disgust. After some 
reflection, he resolved to undertake the removal, or the cure, of 
the evils which pervaded every branch of the service. He 
stopped the retail of spirituous liquors, in a very great measure, 
as being the chief cause of all the existing vices ; and he carried 
forward his reforms in every possible direction, and with the 
most unflinching rigor. So extreme did that rigor become, that 
several of the regiments mutinied ; and for a short time, the 
Duke was in imminent danger of assassination. But he displayed 
remarkable intrepidity in the midst of great personal peril, and 
put down the insurrection with an iron hand. The ringleaders 
were taken, tried, convicted, and executed. Other offenders of 
less degree were punished in proportion to their guilt. The 
Duke did his duty inexorably, but he became very unpopular ; 
and three months after the restoration of order, he was directed 
by George III. to return to England. 

Several years of retirement ensued in the life of the Duke, 
during which he seems to have performed nothing worthy of 
ftote, except that he added vastly to the accumulation of his 
debts. These again became so burdensome, that in 1816, he re- 
moved to the continent, and took up his residence, for the sake 
of greater cheapness, at Brussels. In visiting the several branch- 
es of his family in Germany, he became acquainted with the 
17* 



394 HISTORY OF THE FOTTK GEOKGES. 

Princess of Leiningen, the sister of Prince Leopold of Saxe Co- 
bourg. This young lady had been married at the age of sixteen | jj 
to the hereditary Prince of Leiningen, a venerable and dilapi- \ y 
dated suitor, who was twenty-eight years her senior. It was her 
calamitous fate to endure this partner during twelve years. To 
the handsome and amiable widow of this ancient husband, the 
Duke of Kent was married in May, 1818, at Cobourg. Both^ 
parties were poor, but both seemed happy. They resided at 
Amorbach, the petty capital of the small principality of Leinin- 
gen. Soon it became evident that the Duchess of Kent was preg- 
nant, and it was a matter of the first importance to her and to 
her husband that their child should be born in England. Yet 
so impoverished were the parents of the future powerful queen of 
the British Empire at that time, that they had not even the means 
necessary to convey them across the channel. The Duke in vain 
appealed for aid to his eldest brother, the Prince of Wales. The 
luxurious and unprincipled sybarite of Carlton House turned a j 
deaf ear to his appeals. Other members of the royal family re- 
fused their aid ; and it was at last through the contributions 
raised by a few obscure and untitled friends of the Duke of Kent 
in London, that the necessary means of travelling were procured. 
This assistance came none too soon. Scarcely had he and his 
wife reached Kensington Palace, when, on the 24th of May, 1819, 
their daughter, the future inheritress of the British crown, was 
born. A few months afterward the royal pair returned to their 
former residence at Amorbach ; and here the Duke suddenly 
expired from inflammation of the lungs, several weeks after his 
arrival. Had he lived, the lapse of time and the demise of in- 
tervening claimants would have invested this most persecuted 
and unfortunate member of the family of George III. with that 
sceptre, under whose partial and perverted power he had him- 
self so often and so severely suffered. The Duke of Kent pos- 
sessed one pre-eminent excellence over all the other members of 
the royal family, which deserved to embalm his memory in 
the judgment of posterity. He .'.lone of that exalted circle, 
was a man of principle ; and his principles were such as all 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 395 

nlightened men must approve and commend. His brothers 
lad no principles whatever; but were time-serving, vascil- 
ating, hypocritical, and perfidious; and uniformly governed 
heir conduct in accordance with their interests, their impulses, 
md their passions. The general unpopularity of the Duke 
)f Kent with all his relations, and especially with those whose 
leads were successively decorated with the diadem, resulted 
rom his liberal views, and from his disposition to enlarge 
md secure the franchises of the British subject. 

Another member of the royal family whose personal history 
leserves a passing notice in this connection, was William Henry, 
Duke of Clarence, the third son of George III., who afterward 
succeeded George IV. upon the throne. This prince was born in 
August, 1765. From his youth he was destined for the naval 
service, and accordingly, when fourteen years of age, he was 
placed on board the " Prince George " as midshipman, com- 
manded by Lord Digby. He subsequently saw some active 
service under Admirals Rodney, Hood, and Nelson. At the 
termination of the war in 1782, he determined to qualify himself 
for command, and continued in active employment visiting Cape 
Francois and the Havana. He rapidly passed through all the 
ascending grades of rank ; became lieutenant and captain ; and 
in 1790 was appointed Rear Admiral of the Blue. His talents 
were by no means remarkable, yet in 1818 he was promoted to 
the important post of Lord High Admiral of England. In the 
performance of the duties which this responsible station involved ; 
he visited all the naval depots of the realm ; examined into 
abuses ; corrected errors ; made necessary promotions ; and 
effected some judicious reforms. His chief adviser and assistant 
in these achievements was Mr. Canning, whose sudden and pre- 
mature death cut short the brief career of his own official useful- 
ness and fame. After the resignation of his office as Lord High 
Admiral, the life of the Duke of Clarence became one of retire- 
ment and obscurity, until his final elevation to the highest seat 
in the empire. The character of this prince presented no salient 
points which were in themselves commendable. He was a great 



396 HISTORY OF THE FOTJK GEOEGES. 

spendthrift ; and if the declaration of Lord Nelson is to be be- 
lieved, he was in his early manhood, an incorrigible liar. His a 
most solemn assertions could rarely or never be relied upon. An|it 
idea may be formed of the prodigality usually displayed by this 
prince, from the fact that, during the fifteen months in which he- 
commanded at the Admiralty, his expenses there incurred were 
twenty-five thousand pounds ; although it must be admitted, as 
some extenuation of this lavish waste, that a portion of this sum 
was spent in the munificent hospitality which he exercised toward 
the profession. In his intercourse with women the Duke of Clar- 
ence was indeed less promiscuous and less unscrupulous than his 
brother, the Prince of Wales; but this circumstance resulted I 
more from his sated inclination than from his purer principles. 
He maintained a liaison during many years with the celebrated 
comic actress, Mrs. Jordan ; by her he had a numerous family of 
children ; and her he cruelly and brutally deserted when he had 
attained his fiftieth year, to unite himself in marriage with the | 
Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. If he was not notoriously 
vagrant and versatile in his amours, the credit is due, not to his 
superior virtue, but to Mrs. Jordan's transcendant charms. 

Of the other members of the family of George IV. it is un- 
necessary here to speak ; and we have digressed thus far from 
the main current of our history, to glance only at the personal 
career of two relatives of the king, who were remarkable and 
worthy of note ; the one, because he became the father of the 
princess who, to the infinite chagrin of some of her connections, 
afterward wielded the sceptre of the British Empire, and the 
other, because he himself eventually ascended the throne. 

Scarcely had the imposing pomps, the festivities and the con- 
gratulations which attended the coronation of George IV. termi- 
nated, when he resolved to visit several important portions of his 
empire, to which till then he had remained personally a stranger. 
In August, 1821, he journeyed to Ireland ; in the following Sep- 
tember to Hanover ; and in August of the next year to Scotland. 
It would be difficult to discover any practical good which was 
effected by these expensive travels ; their only result was to 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 397 

latter the vanity and gratify the curiosity of the sated and listless 
monarch ; while the outward shows of respect and esteem which 
ittended his progress were but additional evidences of the false 
rnd delusive flatteries which usually surround the possessors of 
supreme power. For at that very moment the financial and com- 
mercial interests of his subjects were rapidly approaching a peril- 
ous and complicated climax. Universal bankruptcy threatened 
the nation. During the long prevalence of the war from 1797 
till 1815, paper money had been made the substitute of the pre- 
cious metals in a very great degree ; and thereby the price of all 
the articles of commerce was nearly doubled. By the continuance 
of peace throughout Europe, and by the revolutionary and dis- 
turbed condition of the South American countries, whence the 
largest supplies of gold and silver had for many years been de- 
rived, the circulating medium of the nation became vastly reduc- 
ed. This circumstance diminished by one-half the price of all 
the articles of production and commerce. To remedy this evil, 
therefore, as far as possible, the British Parliament passed a bill 
in 1822, extending to ten years the period during which small bank 
notes were to be retained in circulation. The currency immedi- 
ately became greatly expanded ; the nation was amply provided 
with paper money of small and large denominations ; the general 
prosperity of every branch of industry seemed to increase im- 
mensely ; and all this apparent good fortune was attributable to 
the prodigious financial ability of Mr. Huskisson, who in Janu- 
ary, 1823, was appointed President of the Board of Trade, with 
a seat in the Cabinet. This remarkable man was the confederate 
of another statesman of equally valuable, but of more brilliant 
qualities. In August, 1822, after the death of Lord Londonderry, 
Mr. Canning had been invited to fill the office of Minister for 
Foreign Affairs. He was already one of the most popular min- 
isters who ever guided the destinies of England. He co-operated 
heartily in his high place with the plans and measures of Mr. 
Huskisson, and introduced into the Cabinet the ascendancy of 
the commercial, manufacturing, and trading interests of the 
nation ; inasmuch as these were regarded by the leading states- 



398 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

men as the paramount interests in the empire. Mr. Huskissoni f' 
may justly be denominated as the most consummate master of i 
the science of finance who has ever held a seat in the British i* 
Cabinet. His statistical and commercial information was vast,) * 
diversified, and accurate, and merchants and manufacturers dis-i ft 
covered in him a more profound acquaintance with all the details! » 
of their respective interests and pursuits than they themselves pos-i & 
sessed. His talents indeed were all of the solid, useful, and practi-i it 
cal description ; he was totally destitute of every showy and glit-^ it 
tering quality, yet on financial questions he was an able debater ; i If 
his judgment was slow but sure and safe ; and the influence which < « 
he exerted over the men of weight and substance in parliament was I 
deservedly absolute. He was in general the advocate of liberal 1 1 
measures. During many years he had been the associate ofi 
Pitt and Dundas in the cabinet •; and after the accession of Mr 
Canning to power became his most able and powerful coadjutor. . 
He directed special attention to the British Navigation Laws ; ; 
and having devised, he proposed and carried through, the commer- 
cial policy known as the Reciprocity system, which may be more | 
properly designated as the law of commercial retaliation, a pa- 
cific war of tariffs. Other nations allowed a premium of ten per 
cent, on all articles imported into them by their own vessels, 
thus in substance imposing a similar duty on the cargoes of all 
foreign vessels. By the Reciprocity system of Mr. Huskisson 
the same enactment was passed and observed by the British gov- 
ernment in reference to all the goods imported into British ports. 
Thus, in 1823, reciprocity treaties based on this principle were 
established with all the chief commercial communities on the 
globe ; and soon the most beneficial results were found to accrue 
to the pecuniary interests of the nation. 

When the year 1825 opened, the financial condition of the 
empire was in the highest degree prosperous ; before its close, a 
dark cloud overhung the political heavens and an imminent crisis 
occurred in its fate. The leading members of the Cabinet, of which 
Mr. Canning was the gifted head, successively proposed measures 
of a liberal and enlightened nature, and even went so far as to 



i 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 399 

"My themselves open to the taunt of the extreme Whigs, that they 
f id, -while openly retaining the name of Tory, espoused opinions 
which Tories had ever been absolutely hostile. This insinua- 
on was even boldly made by Mr. Brougham, the leader of the 
iThig opposition in Parliament ; and he declared that the chief 
redit of the liberal measures of the government was due to the 
idicals, who had in reality themselves devised and first proposed 
lem. This singular assertion drew from Mr. Canning a retort, 
le mingled wit and severity of which has rendered it historical. 
le said that this claim of the Whig leader reminded him of a 
ertain dramatic writer named Dennis, who flourished in the 
3i eign of Queen Anne ; and who unfortunately labored under the 
isane delusion that he was himself the author of all the popular 
days of the time. Thus when a new and successful tragedy was 
>roduced in which a prodigious quantity of hail and thunder 
.bounded, the incensed Dennis exclaimed from the pit : " They 
lave stolen my thunder ! " Thus, said Mr. Canning, did his elo- 
quent opponent assert, when any new measure was proposed by 
iny party whatever for the promotion of the prosperity of the 
lation ; he claimed it for his thunder ! * 

The conclusion of 1825 was marked by a terrible commercial 
panic, which greatly crippled the energies of the empire. Vast 
quantities of the precious metals had been extracted from the 
realm and exported to foreign countries. In a few months the 
bullion in the Bank of England sank from twelve millions to less 
than two millions. The existing paper currency, whose value 
depended solely upon the actual pressure of that treasure which 
it was intended to represent, became comparatively worthless ; 
confidence was lost ; commerce, both domestic and foreign, was 
greatly circumscribed ; and consternation and distress pervaded 
every class of the community. In the midst of this great peril, 
the resources of Mr. Canning and his associates did not fail them ; 
and after some deliberation, a measure of relief was devised which 
proved efficacious in averting coming evils, and in remedying 
Jhose which already existed. The Bank of England was authorized 

* Parliamentary Debates, Vol. xii., p. 25. 



400 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

by Act of Parliament to issue notes for country circulation of th< 
denomination of one and two pounds ; and these notes, immedi 
ately passing into universal use, supplied the place in a great 
measure of the real though absent currency of the country. . B^ 
this means the threatened crisis was averted ; money, or that 
which possessed all the omnific attributes and prerogatives o; 
money, become accessible to all classes of the community ; anc 
the circulation of the Bank of England increased during the lapse 
of four weeks in the month of December, 1825, from seventeen 
million pounds to twenty-five and a half millions. In the ao 
complishment of all these results, so far as George IV. was con< 
cerned, he acted merely as the supple and compliant tool of the 
sagacious statesmen, who, happily for the welfare of the empire, 
then firmly held the potent wand of power. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 



"isturbed state of Ireland— Miseries endured by the Laboring Classes — Establishment 
of Secret Societies — The Catholic Association — The Talents and Influence of Daniel 
O'Conuell — Agitation in favor of Irish Emancipation — Repeal of the Corn Laws Pro- 
posed — Death of Lord Liverpool — Dilemma of George IV.— Mr. Canning becomes 
Premier — His Death — Lord Goderich succeeds him and resigns — Duke of Wellington 
becomes Prime Minister — Opposition of George IV. to Catholic Emancipation- 
Passage of the Catholic Eelief Bill — English antipathy to Papists and Jesuits — 
Parliamentary Eeform Bill introduced — Illness of Gcorgo IV.— His Death — His 
Character. 



?he unfortunate and disturbed condition of Ireland constituted 
or some years the source of much uneasiness to the government 
»f George IV. During many generations the English rulers of 
hat fertile and once prosperous island tyrannized over its unfor- 
unate inhabitants in every imaginable way ; and the laws by 
vhich the latter were governed were a blot on justice, and a dis- 
grace to Anglo-Saxon legislation. The constant effect produced 
>y these laws was the diffusion of poverty, distress, outrages 
vithout number, disaffection toward the government, internal 
euds, and every species of misfortune which man can inflict or 
uffer. The pampered proprietors of the land, after extorting 
he utmost farthing from the despairing and starving wretches 
vho tilled their fields, wasted their revenues in the expensive 
Measures and luxurious vices of European capitals, and rarely 
esided in their native country. At length a proposition was made 
>y the Irish land-owners to introduce Scotch and English hus- 
>andmen into the occupancy of their lands, as being more thrifty 
-nd more profitable, to the exclusion of the native farmers, 
[his infamous proposal immediately led to outbursts of violence 



402 HISTORY OP THE FOUR GEORGES. 






and indignation from those unfortunate men ; and they attempted!! 
to avert so ruinous a result by the formation of secret societies,!* 
which were known by the epithet of Rihbonmen. To oppose then 
threatened purposes of these organizations all of whose members^! 
were Eoman Catholics, the Protestant residents and land-ownersW 
established hostile associations under the name of Orange Lodges,} I 
which were also secret in their measures and regulations. Thai 
frequent conflicts which subsequently occurred between theseH 
two organizations, form the bloodiest page in the vexed and disasij 
trous annals of Ireland ; and innumerable crimes and reciprocal] 
wrongs were perpetrated by them, which have scarcely a parallel] 
in the domestic history of nations.* 

Evils so great as these naturally forced themselves upon the; 
attention of English and Irish statesmen, and various remedies! 
for them were proposed. Thirteen million pounds sterling were» 
yearly extorted from the Irish peasantry by the land-owners \\ 
and facts like these goaded the sufferers on at length to the adop-i 
tion of active measures of relief. The Catholic Association waSi 
established at Dublin in 1 824. The avowed purposes of this* 
association were to petition Parliament for a redress of griev-1 
ances ; to resist the operations of the Orange Lodges ; to estabJ 
lish and support a free Irish press ; to obtain the repeal of th» 
Union between England and Ireland ; and until that event was ! 
realized, to secure the admission of Roman Catholic peers into the 1 
British House of Lords, and Roman Catholic representatives into' 
the British House of Commons. Meantime the advocates of that 
interests of Ireland in the English legislature were not silent. A 1 
long and violent contest ensued throughout both countries in* 
reference to the heavy grievances and the plundered rights oi 
Ireland. A bill was brought forward in the Commons in 1825,' 
by Mr. Goulburn, providing for the suppression of the Catholio : 
Association in Ireland, and its tributary branches in England. 
This bill was strenuously supported by the ministry and govern- 
ment, but was fiercely opposed by the whole Whig party, and by 
the Catholic interest in parliament. It was eventually passed 

* Porter's Progress of tlie Nation, 658, 667. 






LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FOURTH. 403 

fter a prodigious contest ; but its effects were immediately par- 
lyzed by the instant dissolution of the Association, and by the 
stablishment of a new society having in view the same ultimate 
urposes, but evading those features which would have rendered 
obnoxious to the bill.* 

At this period Daniel O'Connell, the ablest statesman whom 
■land has ever produced, and who was singularly adapted for the 
risis by his great talents, by his unconquerable perseverance, 
y his superior skill, and by his dauntless intrepidity, appeared 
pon the stage. The elective franchise had been extended in 
ome measure to the Irish Catholics by a bill introduced by Mr. 
'itt in 1793 ; and under the operation of this law, Mr. O'Connell 
T as chosen to represent the county of Clare in parliament. From 
hat moment he became one of the master spirits in the British 
egislature. His first triumph, which was in substance an eva- 
ion, appertained to his right to a seat in parliament without tak- 
ag the test oaths ; and the effect produced by it upon his parti- 
ans throughout Ireland was so immense, that universal rejoicings 
,nd tumultuous exultations pervaded every extremity of that land, 
There mourning and tears had been during so many generations 
he unvarying portion of the unhappy people. 

Meanwhile other public interests demanded the attention and 
fxcited the solicitude of British statesmen. During 1826 all 
(lasses of the nation were depressed and afllicted by the pecuni- 
»ry difficulties in which they were involved. The manufacturers 
bund that their orders decreased. The banks refused to lend 
noney on any conditions. An infinite number of workmen were 
hrown out of employment ; and another scene of general bank- 
ruptcy seemed to be impending. The ministers deliberated 
tnxiously upon the measures which should be adopted to restore 
jnancial confidence ; and they at length resolved upon the ex- 
>edient of suppressing the use of all paper money at and under 
;he denomination of one pound. It was supposed that, by the 
ntroduction of gold and silver into the small circulation of the 
jountry, the existing evils would be removed. And when we 

* Parliamentary Debates, Vol. xii., 214, 229. 



404: HISTOEY OF THE FOUE GEOEGE8. 

remember that such sagacious statesmen as Lord Liverpool, thei | 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Huskisson, and Mr. Canning; 
approved of the measure, Ave must admit its wisdom and expei i 
diency. The bill to abolish small bank notes was carried in botli j 
Houses of Parliament by a large majority. The effects produce*) » 
by this measure were such as its authors had anticipated ; ant 
by the immediate rise in the price of various commodities, am 
by the remuneration earned by operatives of every description 
a better condition of the finances and the currency was attained^ 

The year 1826 rendered the reign of George IV. remark 
able as being the period when the repeal of the Corn Laws was 
first proposed and introduced into the discussions of Parliament 
The object of this repeal was the removal of those duties anc 
restrictions which then impeded the importation of foreign graiii 
into England, and which increased the price of breadstuff's by th< 
exorbitant duties which were levied upon them. This repea 
was strenuously resisted by the ministerial party at this period: 
and it was negatived when finally pressed to a vote in the Com 
mons, to be renewed however at a subsequent period with a dif 
ferent and more desirable result. During 1827 the financia 
state of the nation greatly improved. At the opening of th« 
year several events of importance occurred which were calculated 
to produce a permanent effect, both upon the feelings of th« 
monarch and upon the destiny of the nation. On the 5th o: 
January the Duke of York, the heir apparent to the throne, ex 
pired ; and a few days afterward he was followed to the tomb bj 
LorcT. Liverpool, who, since 1812, had occupied the chief posts o: 
influence and power in the government of the country. By the 
death of the first personage the king was left without the counsel 
and sympathy of his most intimate and trusted friend ; by the 
death of the second he was deprived of the services, not of one ol 
the ablest, but of one of the most prudent, adroit, and conserva 
tive ministers, who ever controlled the destinies of England. 

On the death of this experienced statesman George IV. was 
placed in a painful dilemma. The Whig or Liberal party ruled 
in the House of Commons with almost absolute majorities. It 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 405 

Suld have been vain for the king to call to his counsels a Tory 

llJil abinet ; for advisers of that party would have been unable to 

irry a single measure through cither House of Parliament. He 

as at last compelled to have recourse to the services of the very 

en whom he had often betrayed, and whom he therefore most 

tensely hated. But of the great Whig leaders, several were 

srsonally obnoxious to him beyond all endurance ; and an 

11 icommodation with them was utterly impossible. The chief of 

'« iese was Mr. Brougham, the bold, fearless, and gifted advocate, 

i ho had defended the injured queen against the formidable con- 

Plracy which her husband had organized against her ; and who, in 

le performance of his professional duty on that memorable oc- 

ision, had savagely, though not unjustly, slaughtered the character 

nd principles of the august prosecutor. He must necessarily be 

I xcluded from the Cabinet. Mr. Canning, the next in genius and 

(i 1 influence to Mr. Brougham, was also distasteful to the haughty 

lonarch ; for he too had been one of the advisers of the detested 

ueen. Nevertheless there was eventually no other alternative 

eft for the harrassed monarch ; he must accept Whig ministers, 

nd not even obscure or second-rate politicians, but those 

vbo occupied the leading positions in the government of their 

>arty. Mr. Canning therefore became first Lord of the Treasury 

md Chancellor of the Exchequer ; Lord Lyndhurst was appointed 

Lord Chancellor ; the Duke of Portland to the Privy Seal ; Mr. 

Huskisson was made President of the Board of Trade, and the 

Duke of Wellington was succeeded by the Marquis of Anglesea 

is Grand Master of the Ordnance. 

The administration of Mr. Canning proved to be a brilliant 
but a short one. During his supremacy the subject of parlia- 
mentary reform became the paramount theme of agitation in the 
aation. The shocking extremes of bribery which had been re- 
peatedly perpetrated in the election of members of Parliament ; 
and especially the fearful degree of corruption which was prac- 
tised, and which had been suddenly exposed, in the boroughs of 
East Retford and Penryn, attracted the attention of the whole 
nation to the subject. A bill was immediately introduced into 



406 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

parliament and passed by large majorities disfranchising both o^ 
these boroughs. This was one of the last triumphs which Mn I 
Canning was destined to achieve. He expired, after a very sud I 
den and brief illness, in August, 1827, to the great regret of |j 
nation which admired his talents, commended his principles, am 
supported his measures. The sensation produced by the deatl 
of this illustrious man was universal and profound. The most 
extravagant expectations had been formed in reference to hiii | 
future usefulness, all of which were blighted by his prematura 
death. 

Lord Goderich succeeded Mr. Canning in the premiership 
and the resemblance which existed between these two men was 
very much like the similitude of Hyperion to a satyr. During the 
short period of the troubled existence of this administration, the 
inefficiency and the pernicious blunders which characterized I 
rendered it the object of universal contempt ; and it terminatec 
ignominiously in January, 1828. Lord Wellington was then in 
vited by the distracted and now enfeebled monarch to assume 
the chief direction of affairs. The liberal Tories who were al4 
ready in the cabinet retained their seats, but all the stringent 
Whigs resigned. Mr. Peel was appointed Home Secretary^ Earl 
Bathurst, President of the Councils ; while Messrs. Huskisson, 
Palmerston, and Lord Dudley remained in their former offices^ 
The last three statesmen resigned in the following May, and the 
Wellington cabinet underwent a reconstruction, by which Sir 
George Murray succeeded Mr. Huskisson, Lord Aberdeen took 
the post of Lord Dudley, and Sir Henry Hardinge replaced Lord 
Palmerston. 

This cabinet was called upon at the opening of its career to 
dispose of two measures of vital importance to the nation : the> 
Repeal of the Corn Laws, and the abolition of the Test and Cor- 
poration Acts. The latter of these was but a preparatory step 
to the final triumph of Catholic emancipation. Both measures 
passed through both Houses of Parliament during the winter of 
1828 ; and thus clearly indicated the gigantic strides which en- 
lightened principles were then making, in what had formerly been 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 407 

>ne of the most conservative and illiberal communities which ex- 
sted in the civilized world, in which the antiquated prerogatives 
tf a privileged class had ever been guarded with unparalleled 
ealousy and pertinacity. George IV. was at this period of his 
ife hostile to any movement of reform, and especially to any 
idvancement of the interests, or enlargment of the liberties of 
he Roman Catholics. He complained to Lord Eldon that every 
;hing had taken a revolutionary turn ; that he had frequently and 
eainly suggested to his ministers the necessity of crushing the 
Roman Catholic Association, and of even suspending the Habeas 
Corpus Act ; that he himself was in the perilous position of a 
person with a pistol presented to his breast ; and that even the 
aristocracy of the realm, which had ever been characterized by its 
opposition to popular movements, seemed to have deserted him 
and to have joined his adversaries. It was scarcely possible for 
George IV. to entertain any settled principles on any subject, 
except such as were exclusively dictated by a regard to his own 
interests ; and this attribute of his character clearly appears even 
in his apparently pious antagonism to the Roman Catholics. He 
was bitterly opposed to Catholic emancipation because he believed 
that his title to the throne, the security of his claims, and the 
undiminished amplitude of his power, all depended upon his firm 
and unbending devotion to the Protestant interests. He well 
knew that the Protestantism of the house of Hanover was the 
only quality which had elevated them to the British throne in the 
first instance ; that their Protestantism was the single feature of 
their character which still recommended them to the favor of the 
British nation ; and that the moment their Protestanism seemed 
to diminish in its intensity and fervor, that moment they loosened 
their grasp of an unmerited sceptre. Therefore it was that the 
king felt the necessity of exhibiting the utmost hostility to every 
thing which bore the impress of Romanism ; and the circum- 
stances of the case clearly evince that he would have been oppo- 
sed to any measure, had it been the most reasonable and equit- 
able in the world, if its support would have thrown the least 



408 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

suspicion on the purity and excess of his adhesion to the Protes: f 
tant interests.* 

This assertion is clearly proved by the fact that, though al 
the members of the existing cabinet had been formerly oppose^ i 
to Catholic emancipation, their enlightened and sagacious apprel i 
ciation of the state of the kingdom convinced them of the falsity 
of their first position, and induced them to support and approve! 
the measure. The Duke of Wellington had formerly resisted! 
any such movement. Sir Robert Peel had spoken violently against: 
it in parliament. Lord Lyndhurst, Mr. Goulburn, Mr. Dawson.1 
had acted prominently in opposition to the Romanists. They all) 
now veered round suddenly and unanimously to the opposite 
policy ; and gave the king plainly to understand that the period 
for the triumph of Catholic emancipation could no longer be re-i 
sisted or postponed. 

To accelerate a result which was now considered inevitable, 
the champions of the Irish Catholics also continued their agitationi' 
of the subject. On this potent hobby Mr. O'Connell rose to the< 
summit of popular fame and adulation. He kindled a conflagra-' 
tion throughout Ireland which could be suppressed by no human 
power ; and every possible expedient was used to inflame thei 
minds and excite the enthusiasm of the Irish Catholics in favor of 
their own speedy and complete emancipation from those unjust 
inflictions under which they and their ancestors had so long 
suffered. When Parliament met in February, 1829, the moral 
power wielded by their leaders, and especially by Mr. O'Con- 
nell, was prodigious ; yet in his speech from the throne the king 

* Another motive has been assigned as the cause of the intense opposition 
of George IV. to Catholic emancipation. It is well known that while Prince of 
Wales, and even while Regent, he had publicly declared himself to be the friend 
of that measure, and had promised that, when invested with the full prerogatives 
of the Crown, he would effectively promote its consummation. After his ac- 
cession he became bitterly opposed to it ; and it is asserted that one cause of 
this change in his feelings was the influence exerted upon his mind by Lady 
Yarmouth, Marchioness of Hertford, one of his mistresses, who entertained a 
deep aversion to the Church of Rome. See Chambers' Papers for the People, 
Vol. iv., ad Jin. 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 409 

avc utterance for the last time to his opposition to the claims of 
le Romanists ; and he lamented that an association still existed 
Ireland which was dangerous to the public peace ; which was 
iconsistent with the spirit of the constitution ; which produced 
iscord and ill-will among his subjects ; and which in reality only 
npeded the improvement of the condition of Ireland. Soon after 
lie opening of the session Mr. Peel moved for permission to in- 
oduce a bill granting all the demands of the Catholics. This 
roposition, and the subsequent introduction of the bill itself, 
pened wide the field of discussion ; and all the bearings of the 
&se were fully and amply investigated in the deliberations which 
osued. The bill was eventually carried in the house of Peers 
y a majority of a hundred and four votes, and in the Commons 
y a plurality of a hundred and seventy-eight.* 

The passage of the Catholic Relief Bill by the British Parlia- 
aent was one of the most significant events of modern times. It 
llustrated the triumphant progress of free principles. The argu- 
ments urged in favor of it were conclusive and powerful. The 
yhole measure was based upon the broad and comprehensive 
trinciple of the natural rights of man, one of the fundamental and 
nost indefeasible of which is that of thinking and acting freely 
>n the subject of religion, and being exempt from all penalties, 
>ersonal or political, in consequence of the exercise of that free- 
lom. Nor could any government claim to be a free or enlight- 
ned government which did not recognize this cardinal doctrine 
nd act according to it. Five millions out of seven millions of 
rishmen were Catholics by conviction ; they regarded the Church 
)f Rome as the only source of religious truth ; they believed 
hemselves to be under moral obligations to obey the mandates 
ind the precepts of that church, on the peril of the loss of their 
souls ; meanwhile they bore a portion of the burdens of the 
general government under which they lived ; they were for the 
nost part industrious and valuable citizens ; they constituted a 
nost important integral part of the empire ; and in addition to 
ill these considerations, they had already been compelled to en- 

* Parliamentary Debates, xx., 898, 1631. 

18 



410 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

dure the most infamous and tyrannical abuses from the clas 
whom an unpropitious fortune had placed in a dominant positioj 
over them. It was high time that such tyranny should termiB] 
ate ; and that a too tardy justice should be done to the politica 
and religious rights of the Catholic inhabitants of Ireland. 

Nor was the other side of this great question devoid of poten 
and seemingly conclusive arguments. It was urged by the oppo, 
nents of Catholic emancipation that the constitution of Grea< 
Britain was essentially a Protestant constitution ; that it wqi 
formed by Protestants for the promotion of the interests of Profo 
estants ; that it was one of the dogmas of the Roman Catholi 
Church, that its members should obey any foreign potentate whc 
was a Catholic, in preference to a native prince who was a heretic; 
and that therefore the Irish Catholics did not deserve the protec 
tion of a Protestant government. In addition to this it mighl, 
be urged, that the past history of the Romanists in Englanc 
had not been such as to commend them to the acquisition o< 
greater power in the state. They had often proved themselves 
to be dangerous and ambitious subjects. They had exhibited an 
appalling degree of cruelty and ferocity on many critical occa; 
sions when their religion came in question, which had threatenec 
entirely to overturn the fabric of the government. The chill 
ing memory of Gunpowder Plots and Rye House Plots came 
over the minds of some ; and others remembered how the 
intrigues and machinations of Romish priests and emissaries 
during the reign of Queen Mary and even of James II., had wel 
nigh brought the kingdom to the verge of ruin. The experienc( 
of the past had taught them, that of all the organizations on this 
earth Avhich were most to be feared and dreaded, that of the Jes. 
uits was the most formidable ; and they inferred that with the re 
moval of the disabilities from the Roman Catholics, this hated 
order would again be introduced, and would overflow a country 
from which they had long been excluded at the peril of theii 
lives. Nor was this dread of the order of Jesus unfounded 
or unreasonable. The history of modern times presents no 
organization of men so powerful, compact, untiring, and un- 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 411 

crupulous as it is. We may contemplate the daring exploits and 
eckless intrepidity of the legions of Imperial Rome, selling the 
iadem of the world's dominion to the highest bidder, sometimes 
n the plains of Gaul, sometimes amid the snows of Parthia ; we 
nay peruse the deeds of the terrible Janissaries, for so many 
ges the bulwark of the Ottoman Empire, whose unyielding valor 
tas been conspicuous in some of the greatest of conquests ; we 
nay trace the career of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon, rudely 
)attered yet invincible on a hundred fields of blood, whose eagles 
loared in martial glory beneath the burning sun of Egypt, as 
unid the wintry storms of Russia, and who remained faithful to 
he last to the marvellous fortunes of their illustrious chief; yet 
ill these illustrations would fail to convey an adequate conception 
)f the real character of this wonderful order. With them, all 
oersonal and individual interests, the claims of ease or of ambi- 
ion, are alike buried in oblivion, or merged in their absorbing 
ievotion to the progress and triumphs of the Romish church. 
h is a joy to them to forsake all the endearments of early asso- 
ciation, to cross wide oceans, to penetrate remote climes, to sacri- 
fice the strongest ties of human existence, to labor, to teach, to 
preach, to intrigue, to suffer, and at last to perish, either in the 
crowded capital, or as solitary exiles in the most distant recesses 
of human abode, for the aggrandizement of the church, for the 
extension of her power, and for the enlargement of her suprem- 
acy. Nor does the dreaded agency of the Jesuit terminate here. 
He is most to be feared in the domestic circle, and in the confes- 
sional. There he extorts revelations from female lips which the 
husband and father never hear. Like an insidious viper he 
stealthily crawls into the inmost sanctuary of a man's home ; 
and with subtle power he dispenses discord, disaffection, and 
treachery to which there is no possible antidote. He exerts a 
mysterious and baleful influence which neither parental, frater- 
nal, nor conjugal authority can counterbalance. The Protestant 
father will exercise but little control over children whose mother 
is one of the passive victims of Jesuitical enchantment. His off- 
spring will scorn him ; the partner of his bosom will distrust 



412 HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

him ; her spiritual adviser will know all his affairs ; while living 
he will thwart his purposes, and when dead he will control hisl * s 
property ; and he is a mere tool in the hands of an unknown foei ^ 
who secretly and perniciously directs the mam current of his des " 
tiny, and of those most intimately connected with him.* 

The past experience of the English people had amply taught 
them the perilous nature of this order, so justly termed the Janl* 
issai'ies de realise ; and some of them naturally apprehended that ; 
by the passage of the Catholic Relief Bill, the door would b< :l1 
opened for the reintroduction of the evils and calamities of th(j I 
past ; perhaps for the eventual triumphs of Popery throughout ' 
the kingdom ; and even for the return of the exiled Stuarts? ! 
They supposed that the Church of Rome never changes in its' ' 
character and principles with the lapse of time ; and that the ' 
same events would probably be brought about in the nineteentl 
century, which had occurred in the seventeenth, if the Romanistdi 
regained the possession of power.f Hence they entertained the' 
utmost horror and dread of any reform which might by any post- 
sibility lead to so disastrous a result. 

Yet, singular as it may appear, that party in the nation who 
then held these sentiments proved to be greatly in the minority 
The bill having passed both Houses of Parliament, was presentee 
to George IV. for his approval. He seems on this occasion to 
have been exercised and disturbed, much more than his selfish 
nature was usually capable. Every member of his cabinet was 
arrayed against him ; and in his distress he sent for Lord Eldon, 
the aged adviser who had so long possessed his confidence. He 
declared to him the painful dilemma in which he was placed : 
how he detested and feared the passage of this bill ; how all his 

* In proof of this see " Instructions Secretes des Jesuites, ou Monita Secreta 
Societatis Jesu." Blois et Paris, 1845. 

+ This is affirmed, in so many words, by many of the Romish standards. See 
Catechism of Council of Trent, p. 85, Ques. 16. Sed quam admodum haec una 
ecclesia errare non potest in fidei, ac morum disciplina tradeuda, quum a Spiritu 
Sancto gubernatur : ita ceteras omnes, quae sibi ecclesise nomen arrogant, ut quae 
diaboli spiritu ducantur, in doctrinae, et morum perniciosissimus erroribus ver- 
sari necesse est. 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 413 

n linisters threatened to resign if he did not sign it ; how he was 
jserted by the nobility ; how he was hated by the people ; and 
3W, if ne was compelled at last to yield, he could abandon the 
irone, and retreat to the repose of his kingdom of Hanover, 
inally he fell upon the neck of the venerable Chancellor, and 
ave vent to his grief in a flood of tears.* But Lord Eldon 
early perceived the position in which the king was placed ; that 
would be impossible for him to resist the overwhelming flood 
f popular determination, or to carry on the functions of the 
pvernment ; and he also advised the monarch to accede to the 
opular will. George IV. was at last subdued ; and with an un- 
r illing heart he gave the bill the royal assent on the 13th of 
il xpril, 1829, by commission ; thereby indicating to the world that 
ae approval was that of the cabinet rather than of the sovereign. 
But another humiliation almost equally great, was soon in 
tore for the unfortunate monarch. Progress and reform now 
lecame the detested watchword of the leading parties and states- 
aen of the day, and it was impossible for the conservative king 
o predict, or even to conjecture, where these things would ter- 
ninate. The radical movement took the shape of the celebrated 
Reform Bill ; and although this great and beneficent measure did 
lot reach a final triumph until 1832, after George IV. had been 
.aid in the tomb, its vigorous and resolute agitation had already 
jommenced, and the successes which the progressive party had 
dready attained, stimulated them only to the accomplishment 
)f greater. Financial difficulties now occurred, which furnished 
i convenient topic for agitation and declamation. The manufac- 
turing classes of England in 1829, were greatly depressed by the 
liminution of the circulating medium, which was the necessary 
esult of the abolition of the small note paper currency. The 
results which usually attend financial distress followed. Riots 
Dccurred at Coventry, Nuneaton, and Bedworth ; strikes for 
higher wages were made by the operatives at Macclesfield and 
Barnesley ; and in Ireland, the old feuds between the Roman 

* Alison's History of Europe, Second Series, Vol. ii., p. 308. 



I 



414: HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

Catholics and the Orangemen were revived. Collisions tooijjv 
place in Armagh, Benauglen, and Tipperary, in which man; 
were wounded and slain. In the midst of these troubles, Pan 
liamentmet in February, 1830. The king in his speech froxjjtf 
the throne adverted to the existing evils, and suggested severa 
desirable measures to alleviate them. A long debate ensued b 
the House of Commons, upon the state of the country. Th 
Duke of Wellington was still premier ; but his position was be 
coming one of great difficulty. He proposed measures of rebel} j 
which were not approved by the House of Commons. Mi[ 
Hume, so celebrated for his pertinacious adherence during manj 
years to all measures of retrenchment, moved for a reduction ol 
the army and navy as an incipient step of relief; but his mo 
tion was lost. Mr. Thompson then moved for a revision of th« 
system of taxation ; and his proposal met with a similar fate 
Mr. Attwood subsequently proposed a bill repealing the law 
which abolished the use of bank notes under the value of fivf 
pounds. But the House was equally impracticable in this case* 
and this measure was also voted down. At length the cabine 
resolved to reduce the taxes, as being the most direct and effica 
cious remedy of the existing evils. Accordingly the imposts or 
beer, leather, and cider were remitted, which annually amounted 
to the sum of three million and a half pounds sterling.* This 
measure for a time was highly successful ; and greatly augment 
ed the popularity of the ministers ; though in the end the results 
produced by it were quite insignificant and inadequate. The 
next expedient of relief adopted, was the abandonment of the 
sinking fund, by which means the sum of five million pounds, 
which had been appropriated yearly to the diminution of the na- 
tional debt, would be employed in paying the current expenses 
of the government. This measure was rendered partially neces- 
sary in consequence of the diminution of the taxes ; and it was 
triumphantly carried through both Houses of Parliament. It 
quickly received the royal approval ; for George IV., with the 



/ 



* Parliamentary Debates, xxiii, 124. 



• 



I 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE FOURTH. 415 

Ivance of age, and the increase of physical weakness, no longer 
m ; ossessed the mental power to resist any influence which might 
l; e brought to bear upon him. The end of his long, voluptuous, 
et troubled existence had at length arrived. 
The king's health had been gradually declining during the last 
™ wo years of his life. He was afflicted severely with the gout, 
u iut the ossification of the heart had begun, and was rapidly pro- 
ressing. The severe winter of 1829 prevented him from taking 
is usual exercise, and thus hastened the fatal termination. At 
-'ibis period he resided in his Lodge at Windsor ; and whenever 
• a he weather permitted, he indulged himself in his favorite drives 
* hrough the ancient and magnificent forests which adorn that do- 
ll nain. He was particularly averse to being seen by any of the 
'1 populace ; and to prevent such an annoyance, servants were 
Si stationed at the corners of the roads which he traversed, 
ii sxtending fifteen and tweny miles in length, for the purpose 
of warning off all intruders at the approach of his Majesty. 
He still continued to hope that his disease might not prove 
t fatal ; and he undertook some repairs upon the royal lodge 
but a few days before his death. He was intensely anxious that 
a new dining hall would have been completed before his ap- 
proaching birthday. When that day arrived, the king had been 
slumbering for a month in the unwelcome embrace of the tomb. 
So inveterate had the habit of ostentatious trifling become with 
that pampered and superficial spirit ! The king rode out in his 
open carriage for the last time on the 12th of April ; he then 
passed an hour in his menagerie. Here he was attacked by faint- 
ness, by a dry cough, and by wheezing respiration. It became 
apparent, from an examination which was subsequently made of 
the respiratory and circulating organs, that the ossification of the 
heart had proceeded a great length, and that the vital functions 
could not much longer continue. On the 15th of April the first 
bulletin was issued to the public, stating the perilous condition 
of the king. He continued to sink rapidly from day to day, not- 
withstanding the utmost efforts of medical skill ; and on the morn- 
ing of the 2Gth of June, 1830, the final hour of his existence ar- 



4:16 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

rived. A severe fit of coughing coming on, he was taken by hi«P 
physician into his arms ; when the king suddenly exclaimed 
" Oh God, I am dying ! " In a few moments afterward he ex% 
pired, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and in the eleventh k 
year of his reign. 

The royal remains lay in state during some days, after which 
they were deposited with imposing ceremonies in the mausoleum 
built by George III., in which already reposed the bodies of that 
monarch and his queen, the Princesses Charlotte and Amelia, the 
Dukes of Kent and York, and the infant princes Octavius and 
Alfred. 

Thus passed away for ever, the most stately, magnificent, vo-> 
luptuous, and censurable monarch of the House of Hanover, who 
has occupied the English throne. The character of George IV. 
lay upon the surface, and was easily discernible to the mostt 
casual observer. His intellectual powers were good, though by 
no means remarkable. He was well-informed, sagacious, and 
intelligent ; but at the same time he possessed all the stubborn- 
ness and selfish capriciousness of his family. He was regardless oft 
every principle or duty which interfered with the gratification of 
his passions. He was exceedingly sensual in his nature ; he had 
not the slightest appreciation of female virtue ; like the serpent 
in Paradise, he seduced all who attracted his desires, fascinating 
them, and glittering with azure, purple and gold ; and having 
accomplished their ruin, he turned heartlessly away to achieve 
other and equally villanous conquests. He paid no regard to 
truth ; and had he not been restrained by the adamantine and 
immovable barriers of the British constitution, he would have 
carried his tyranny to an unparalleled extreme. His desertion 
of " Perdita," his conduct toward Mrs. Fitzherbert, his cruelty 
to Queen Caroline, his perfidy toward the numerous undis- 
tinguished victims of his amorous passions, all attest that his 
heart was one of rare rottenness and corruption. He was an ad- 
mirer of the fine arts ; he himself performed with some skill 
upon several musical instruments ; and he possessed very con- 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 417 

derable appreciation of the productions of genius in its varied 
partments of endeavor. Whatever was noble and brilliant in 
3 administration, was due to the superior talents and patriot- 
m of his ministers ; whatever was pernicious and bad, was as 
early attributable to his own personal defects and vices. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Survey of Distinguished Personages during the Eeign of George IV. — Mr. Canning—, 
Mr. Brougham — Details of their Lives and Labors — Estimate of their Talents — Wili 
liam Wilberforce — Charles Earl Grey — Eminent Men of Letters — Sir Waltei- 
Scott — Lord Byron — Thomas Campbell — Thomas Moore— Metaphysicians— Thi 
School of Modern British Essayists — Her Historians— Artists — Tragedians anc 
Preachers of the era of George IV.— Conclusion. 

The era of George IV. both when regent and when king, wasi 
prolific of great men in every department of intellectual excel- 
lence. Commencing with that class of persons whose talent* 
and position are confessedly the most influential and important 
in the empire — the statesmen who wielded the destinies of Eng 
land, the first who attracts our attention is Mr. Canning. 

George Canning was born in London in 1770. His father 
was a man of aristocratic connections, belonging to the Irist 
gentry ; but having offended his family by a disgraceful amour 
he was discarded and cut off with a hundred and fifty pounds t 
year. In 1757 he came to London, and commenced the studj 
of the law ; which however he soon relinquished for the purpos* 
of entering into the more attractive pursuits of literature anc 
politics. At the period of the birth of his celebrated son, he was 
overwhelmed by pecuniary embarrassments, which continued t( 
increase until his death. This event occurred when the youngei 
Canning was but twelve months old. After this event the smal 
sum which the deceased had still received from his relatives wa: 
withdrawn ; and Mrs. Canning was reduced to the utmost dis 
tress. To avert impending starvation for herself and her child 
she made her appearance on the stage in 1773. She seems tc 
have been a woman of considerable talent and of remarkabh 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 419 

eauty ; although the latter was her chief qualification for the 
ramatic profession. She was but partially successful, and soon 

I "flowed the fate which generally awaits beautiful, but not very 
irilliant actresses — she was married to a profligate player. This 
ierson was named Reddish. It has been, however, asserted that 
o marriage ceremony took place between the parties, and that their 
onnection was merely a liaison ; nor was any proof ever pre- 
ented, or known to exist, to establish the contrary statement. 
Reddish, who was a drunkard, soon became a lunatic, and after- 
vard died in a madhouse. Mrs. Canning subsequently married 
igain. Her last husband, after failing in business and breaking 
lown on the stage, also died, leaving his widow and several chil- 
Iren to the usual vicissitudes of poverty and distress. She con- 
iinued to buffet these calamities as best she could, until the rising 
fortunes of her talented son surrounded her with the means of 
jomfort, and even of luxury. 

The very unfavorable and singular circumstances which thus 
surrounded the youth of Canning, would have inevitably conducted 
him to ruin instead of the premiership, had he not been rescued 
by a fortunate accident. The beauty and sprightliness of the 
lad, who was employed in carrying the theatrical wardrobe of 
Reddish and his mother to and from the theatre, attracted the 
benevolent regard of an old actor named Moody, who determined 
jto interfere in his behalf. He went to Canning's paternal uncle, 
a rich merchant of London, the father of Sir Stratford Canning, 
and so forcibly represented the case to him, that he prevailed 
upon him to send the boy to school. The uncle first placed him 
under Mr. Richards at Winchester. Thence he sent his protege 
to Eton. At this noble institution, the brilliant talents of young 
Canning soon gained him, child as he was, a high reputation. 
In his fifteenth year he became the senior scholar. Soon after- 
ward he projected a periodical entitled the " Microcosm," in the 
pages of which he exhibited his superior talents both for poetical 
and prose composition. In 1787 he went to Oxford, carrying 
with him thither a brilliant reputation. In the following year 
his generous uncle died, and Canning was compelled to leave the 



1 



420 HISTORY OF THE FOTJK GEOKGES. 

university without a degree. He then entered himself at Lin-ip 
coin's Inn as a student of law ; but soon his acquaintance with! 
Sheridan, Burke, and other distinguished men of genius withl 
whom he became familiar, induced him to abandon his legal 
studies, and devote himself to political life. By the assistance oil K 
Mr. Pitt he succeeded in being elected to Parliament in 1793,118 
as a member for Newport, in the Isle of Wight ; and thenceforth!) h 
he commenced that career of political distinction which has fewj n 
parallels in British history. 

Canning's first speech was made in support of the subsidy^ 
which the ministers had granted to the King of Sardinia. It was,: 
for so young a man, a powerful effort ; and it at once established] o 
his reputation as one of the ablest and most promising members- 1 
of the House. He was now pitted against Fox, and the greati i 
leaders of the opposition ; and he treated them from the start of 
his career with a facile and masterly power which clearly indi- 
cated his own consciousness of equal ability. The defence of the: 
ministerial measures was now intrusted in a great measure tol 
Canning, and he was regarded as the ablest ally on whom Pittt 
could depend. As a reward for his services he was appointed! 
Under Secretary of State in 1795. In 1801, when Mr. Pitt re- 
signed, he followed his fortunes ; and taking his seat on the 
benches of the Opposition, he assailed the Addington ministry 
with a sarcastic and ferocious power, which had never been wit- 
nessed in the British Parliament ; and exhibited his versatility 
of talent in no very pleasing or amiable light. 

When Mr. Pitt returned to office in 1804, Mr. Canning again 
accompanied him as Treasurer of the Navy. In this position he 
was reconciled to Mr. Addington, who had been created Lord 
Sidmouth, and co-operated with him as President of the Council. 
When Mr. Pitt put forth all his prodigious powers to avert the 
impeachment of Lord Melville, Mr. Canning gave him his utmost 
assistance. Their united efforts were unavailing, and the discom- 
fited premier hid his mortification and shame in the grave. After 
the death of Mr Pitt, Mr. Canning began to act with more inde- 
pendence of purpose and character than he had previously ex- 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 421 

ibited. Under the Portland ministry he held the office of 
foreign Secretary. In 1809 he retired in consequence of his 

ucl with Lord Castlereagh. In 1814 he accepted the embassy 
b Lisbon ; in 1816 he became President of the Board of Con- 
rol ; in 1822 he was appointed Governor-General of India ; in 
,827 he reached the dizzy eminence which crowns the vaulting 
mbition of British statesmen, and became prime minister. Four 
nonths afterward, a sudden attack of illness, produced by acci- 
lental causes, terminated prematurely the earthly career of this 
)rilliant and powerful intellect. 

Mr. Canning belonged to the party known by the epithet of 
iberal Tories, and as one of these he was called upon to oppose 
nany measures which were regarded by wise and good men as 
lesirable in themselves, and as being adapted to promote the 
welfare of the British Empire. The chief measure of reform 
ivhieh he advocated was that of Catholic Emancipation, but his 
ndeavors led to no important results, inasmuch as the bill which 
le introduced on the subject, and which was ably supported by 

rattan and Plunkett, was shorn of its most valuable clauses 
before it came to a final vote, and was consequently abandoned 
by its author. When the movements of the Radicals in 1817 
ind 1819 became so violent as to strike terror into the hearts 
of the landed gentry throughout the realm, Mr. Canning placed 
himself in the van of the fierce conflict, assailed their principles 
and purposes with intense severity and scathing power, and was 
mainly instrumental in resisting the advancing tide of social and 
political reform. The suicide of Lord Castlereagh prevented his 
proceeding to India as Governor-General, and restored him to 
the domestic service of his country. As premier, his measures 
were inefficient and feeble ; but the fault of his failure in this 
high place was not attributable to any defect of his own, but to 
the peculiarly unfavorable combination of adverse circumstances 
by which he was surrounded. Had his life been prolonged, it 
is probable that he would have amply realized the brilliant ex- 
pectations which had been entertained respecting him. 

As an orator, Mr. Canning had few equals in the British 



422 HISTORY OF THE four georges. 

Parliament. He was a match, even when quite young, for Mr., fe 
Fox ; and when afterward, at the death of Pitt, a ministry nick- I( f 
named "All the Talents" was formed, composed of leading men (! f 
from the three parties, of whom Mr. Fox, Lord Grenville, andff. 
Lord Sidmouth were the chiefs, Mr. Canning's attacks on thenn,;, 
were so formidable and overwhelming that they hastened the. 
death of Fox, and considerably shortened the career of that em-i g 
inent statesman. His eloquence was masterly in its character 
and effect. No British orator of his time equalled him in his 
power to satisfy his own adherents, to puzzle and confound his 
opponents, to persuade and charm the indifferent. His speeches 
displayed comprehensive logic, great critical acumen, superior 
rhetorical art in marshalling his arguments and retorts, so as to 
produce the greatest impression ; while vivid and striking im- 
ages, clear and forcible illustrations were introduced into every 
discussion. His style was habitually and uniformly elegant j 
and though his orations were always extemporaneous, so perfect 
and consummate was his forensic skill that each effort displayed ; 
the same freedom from all blemish, as if it had been carefully elab- 
orated in the closet. Sometimes, indeed, he seemed to forget the 
maxim, that ars est celare artem, and his fastidious elegance was= 
rendered purposely visible. His excessive polish of style and 
manner was not unfrequently overdone. This peculiarity re- 
sulted from his natural refinement of mind, and from his sedu- 
lous literary culture. In this respect he resembled Burke ; and 
like him he had mastered not only all the departments of belle 
lettre literature, but he had also probed to the bottom the intri- 
cacies of philosophical and metaphysical science. His leading 
arguments often contained the enunciation of profound general 
principles, whose invention and utterance clearly proved the 
presence of an original and comprehensive mind. Pie possessed 
a ready and retentive memory, so that all his intellectual acqui- 
sitions were at his command in the most sudden and pressing 
emergencies. His sarcasm was scathing and destructive ; and 
some of the forensic combats in which he took a prominent share 
were terrible. His wit resembled that of Sheridan ; his learning 



\ 



, 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE FOURTH. 423 

1 hat of Huskisson ; his logic that of Fox ; his declamation that 
1111 f Pitt ; his imagination that of Burke ; and his invective that 
f Brougham. He was the just pride and glory of the liberal 
bry party ; and had his career not been prematurely termin- 
-ted by death, the ragged and penniless child of an unfortunate 
tctress, who, in his boyhood, had timidly skulked behind the 
cenes of a provincial theatre uncertain of the morrow's food and 
helter, would in all respects have achieved as brilliant a fame, 
md wielded as absolute a power, as William Pitt himself. 
"i The only worthy rival to Mr. Canning in the British Parlia- 
ment, during the latter portion of his career, was Mr. Brougham. 
This extraordinary man, whose intellectual qualities were so pe- 
nliar and so varied as to render him a complete anomaly in the 
history of British statesmen, was born in Edinburgh in 1779, 
and was related to the family of Dr. Robertson the historian. 
He was educated in his native city, whence after completing his 
academical career with great distinction, he removed to London, 
and commenced the study of the law. Already at an early age 
he had contributed many articles to the Edinburgh Review, then 
■recently established, which exhibited superior talent ; and which 
held an honorable place among the most elaborate compositions 
of such men as Jeffrey, Sidney Smith, Mackintosh, Playfair, and 
Malthus. 

Having been admitted to the English bar, Brougham soon 
distinguished himself as an advocate and nisi prius pleader. His 
genius was bold, self-confident and acute ; these being the very 
qualities most essential to the attainment of success in the pro- 
fession of a popular advocate. But his ambition was by no 
means confined to one, or even to several departments of mental 
superiority. In 1810 he was elected a member of Parliament ; 
and in that year his name first appeared in the debates of the 
British Legislature. In this new sphere, his great abilities en- 
abled him at once to assume a distinguished rank. Very soon, 
Mr. Canning, then the leading orator in the house, discovered 
that Brougham was a complete and equal match for him. All 
the elder forensic giants had passed away. Fox, Burke, Pitt, 



424 HISTOEY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

and even Sheridan had disappeared from the brilliant stage upon is 
which they had played so magnificent a part. The combat ncwill 
lay between Canning and Brougham alone; and rarely had twalr 
more gifted and consummate intellectual gladiators entered the<jirt 
arena. In the senate, the eloquence of Brougham obtained aijte 
more suitable and enlarged field of operation than at the bar*jip 
Compared with Canning, his mind was more athletic and power- \\ 
ful, less polished and beautiful. He was not equally accom-jita 
plished with the elegance and ornaments of eloquence. Butheili 
possessed a ruder and more gigantic intellect; he was furnished \ is 
with more ample intellectual resources ; and indeed there was a s» 
scarcely any branch of knowledge from the history and the prin- 1 
ciples of a great revolution, down to the scientific analysis of a 
ray of light, of which he was not master. His delivery was en- 
ergetic, rapid, and impressive ; to which his personal appearance 
added its favorable accessories. His genius was essentially con- 
stituted and armed for attack ; his powers of invective, sarcasm, 
and obliterative logic were overwhelming. Among other pe- | 
culiarities which he exhibited, he was capable of uttering original | < 
aphorisms, which were pregnant with such suggestive and sen 
tentious truths, that they at once flew over the land, crossed 
oceans and seas, and became household and familiar maxims 
wherever the English language was known. An illustration of 
this may be found in his phrase : " the schoolmaster is abroad," 
which was uttered by him in 1828, in a speech in reference to 
the appointment of the Duke of Wellington as prime minister, 
and as successor to Mr. Canning. Said he : " Field Marshal the 
Duke of Wellington may take the army — he may take the navy | 
— he may take the great seal — he may take the mitre. I make 
him a present of them all. Let him come on with his whole 
force sword in hand against the constitution; and the English 
people will not only beat him back, but laugh at his assaults. 
In other times the country may have heard with dismay that the 
soldier was abroad. It will not be so now. Let the soldier be 
abroad if he will ; he can do nothing in this age. There is 
another personage abroad — a personage less imposing, in the 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEOEGE THE FOURTH. 425 

s of some perhaps insignificant. The Schoolmaster is abroad ; 
1 1 trust to him, armed with his primer, against the soldier in 
1 military array." Other instances of the utterance of orac- 

r thoughts are found in his performances in the senate, which 
led greatly to the popular effect which they produced. Among 

parliamentary orations, that delivered in 1817 on the state 
the nation was preeminent for its lucid statements, its meth- 
ical order, its varied knowledge, its masculine power, its orig- 

lity, beauty and force. His speech on law-reform in 1828 
,s another instance of similar nature ; and though its great 
igth rendered six hours necessary for its delivery, the assembly 
which it was uttered exhibited no signs of tedium or fatigue. 

Mr. Brougham was most successful as an orator, when he was 
led upon to attack an adverse party, to break opposing ranks, 

to carry a stronghold by storm. His dialectical skill, his 
porous and adroit logic, his facility in exposing a fallacy, or 
ashing a weak pretence, his galling irony, his flaying sarcasm, 
; varied learning, his rushing resistless declamation, his bold- 
ss and self-confidence, and his ability to wrest a weapon from 
hands of an adversary, and then either break it over his 
m head, or turn it fatally against his own bosom — all these 
re powers came into full play when their possessor was em- 
oyed as an assailant. Canning was the only British statesman 
10 could withstand Brougham under such circumstances, and 
me of the encounters which took place between them were 
iposing exhibitions of the fearful formidableness of two great 
inds, supremely endowed and accomplished, marshalling their 
sources in hostile array against each other, in conflicts in which 
en a defeat would not have been inglorious to either. 

From the year 1810 till 1830 Brougham was constantly en- 
ged in advocating large and fundamental principles of liberty, 
ther in the senate or in the popular assemblage. He contended 
r the freedom of the press against the arbitrary purposes of 
llenborough, and the keen legal acumen of Gibbs. He assailed 
e rampant and insolent Toryism which, rendered arrogant by 
e military triumphs of that party on the continent, and by the 



426 ' HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

downfall of Napoleon ; which, supported by the courage of Cak 
tlereagh, by the eloquence of Canning, by the official skill li 
Huskisson, and by the unscrupulous knavery of Sidmoutlii 
seemed determined to arrogate to itself all the influence and H 
prerogatives of power in the empire ; that great party Brougham 
assaulted with fearless courage, and did much to meliorate HI 
ultra-tendency of their measures. After this service he plunge |l 
boldly into the gap which yawned between the unfortunalfr 
Queen Cai*oline and her husband, and defended her heroically 
against the malignant and brutal tyranny of George IV. Soni 
of his speeches for the queen were masterpieces of reasoning 
and dialectics. The rank and sex of his client, her persecution i 
and misfortunes, the exalted position of the assailing parfrti 
the intense interest felt by the nation in the result, the odioui i 
ness of the oppression which his client had endured, and tr | 
sympathy which was universally felt in her behalf; all th«j| 
circumstances called forth his utmost powers. He proved hinn 
self worthy of the memorable occasion ; and no sudden eme* 
gency, no unexpected narrowing by the judges of the grounc 
allowed to the defense, no hostile array of learning, talent ani 
influence, sufficed for a moment to daunt or confound hin^ 
When, however, in 1830, he accepted the Lord Chancellorship 
he took the most unfortunate step of his life. On this occasio| 
he was first offered the Attorney-Generalship ; but this post 1| 
indignantly spurned. He demanded something higher ; and th; 
Chancellorship was at last tendered him by Lord Grey, the ne 1 i 
Whig premier. He remained in this office till 1835 ; and during 
all this period he occupied a false and dishonorable position 
He who had been the most able and zealous advocate of progres; 
and reform, suddenly assumed the attitude, and uttered the sej| 
timents, of a conservative Tory. He condemned the measure 
of his former associates as revolutionary and disorganizing 
He eulogized the constitutional spirit and the legislative wisdoi. 
of the House of Lords ; and spoke of that inert and pernicion 
body, as the great and salutary corrective of the evils produce 
by the radical legislation of the Commons. The inevitable coi 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE FOUETIL 427 

piences of such perfidy and inconsistency was, that Lord 
ougham fell from his exalted place in the estimation of the 
tion ; nor did his success as a judge compensate him for his 
popularity as a trimmer. His legal learning was scarcely 
fficient for the post. He had never been a mere leguleius in 
e technical meaning of that term ; and his judgments as Chan- 
llor never ranked with those of Eldon, Camden, or Hardwicke. 
uring the period of Lord Grey's ministry, Lord Brougham de- 
rided the most unjustifiable acts of the premier. After the fall 
that minister in 1835, Lord Brougham remained during some 
ars in retirement. His moral influence in the nation was lost ; 
d it was supposed to have been irretrievably forfeited. In 
e progress of time, however, he emerged, and gradually suc- 
kled in regaining the popularity which he had alienated, by 
,e advocacy of wise measures, and by his bold and vigorous 
jfense of principles which were consistent with those in the 
ipport of which he had expended the masterly energies of his 
blier manhood. 

But Lord Brougham's sole distinction was not as a lawyer, 
i an advocate, as a judge, or as a parliamentary orator. He 
as the most versatile of men. His great abilities shone as a 
istorical and philosophical writer with equal splendor. His 
Mscourse on Natural Theology deserves to be called the tenth 
iridgewater treatise, and is the rival of the great work of Paley 
n that subject. His treatise on the Objects and Pleasures of 
cience is another literary masterpiece. His Historical Sketches 
f Statesmen in the time of George III., as well as of Men of 
Science and Letters, exhibit varied learning, and familiar ac- 
uaintance with almost every department of knowledge. They 
re written with a clear and vigorous style, though they exhibit 
want of polish, and of proper attention to the labor limce. 
lis scientific researches were even carried so far, that, amid the 
nxious turmoil of professional life, and the nervous agitation of 
he senate, he could engage in investigations in reference to the 
>olarization of light, and furnish an elaborate discussion on that 
>r kindred subjects, to the Royal Philosophical Society, which the 



428 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

first savans of the age regarded as worthy of their attention 
Add to all these attainments, a competent knowledge of classic* 
literature, both of Greece and Rome, an acquaintance with th»« 
principal languages of modern Europe, a familiarity with polity 
ical, moral, and intellectual philosophy, rare conversational 
powers, and a perfect insight into human nature in all its phasei] 
and positions, and the reader will then be able to form an acetyl 
rate idea of the vast and multiform powers with which Lom 
Brougham was gifted ; and he will cease to wonder at the exaltei 
position which he attained in the history and the evolutions oi 
the age in which he lived. h 

Among the statesmen who flourished in the era of Georgia 
IV., William Wilberforce stood pre-eminent for a rare combina 
tion of moral worth, benevolent influence, and intellectual power 
He was born at Hull, and descended from an ancient and opii 
lent family. His early mental training was combined with rigs 
orous religious instruction; and this circumstance served tcj 
impart a peculiar tinge to his whole subsequent career. He wa« 
educated at Cambridge, where he formed a close and- confidential 
intimacy with "William Pitt. He was noted for his piety noj; 
only in his boyhood, but during his youth, manhood, and ripe$ 
age. Accident threw him into the society of Thomas Clarksom 
by whom his attention was first directed to the subject of Afrifi 
can slavery — a theme which became the chief and all-absorbingi 
interest of his subsequent existence. i 

In 1783 he was elected to Parliament from his native city*t 
It was his determination from the moment he entered the Legis- 
lature of his country, to devote all his energies to the suppress 
sion of Negro slavery in every form, and in every clime in which' 
the power or the influence of Britain extended. He gathered' 
around him a small party of philanthropists possessing sj^mpa-i 
thies kindred to his own. At that period the project of abolishingi 
the African slave-trade •was regarded with hostility by all classes, 
of the nation. The monarch, George III., condemned it, chiefly^ 
for the sagacious reason, which suited his calibre of intellect/1 
that it was an innovation. Other classes of the people resisted) 



LIFE AND REIGN OF GEORGE THE FOURTH. 429 

because it conflicted either with their prejudices, their interests, 
their antipathies. Wilberforce remained at first alone, and 
b undaunted. He introduced his first motion bearing on the 
DJect into Parliament in 1789. He succeeded in having a 
nmission appointed to take testimony, and report the result 
their labors to the House. Several years were worn away by 
necessary and the unnecessary delays which took place in 
3 performance of this task. Nevertheless he persevered until 
1794, after prodigious exertions, he obtained the passage of a 
1 in the Commons, requiring immediate abolition of the Afri- 
x slave-trade. The Guinea and Congo merchants, whose vast 
ns from human blood would have been terminated had Mr. 
ilberforce been triumphant in the House of Peers, exerted 
ery nerve, and eventually succeeded in crushing the bill in that 
'lightened and philanthropic assembly. Nevertheless he re- 
eved his motion in 1795, with no better result. Ten successive 
brts did this philanthropic statesman make in ten successive 
ars, to gain the support of both Houses of the British Parlia- 
jnt, and in all of these he failed. He then attempted other 
3tics. He proposed the future abolition of the slave-trade after 
termination of five years. In various forms the great meas- 
e was suggested by its author in Parliament, meeting uniformly 
d ultimately with defeat until 1807; when at last, after twenty 
iars of unremitting toil and anxiety, he accomplished the great 
irpose of his life in the abolition of the African slave-trade 
roughout the British Empire. 
This glorious result was accomplished through the endeavors 
a man who stands in the foremost rank of the British states 
en of his era without possessing any of those qualities which 
ually characterize that class of men. He was totally destitute 
their craft, of their versatility, of their oratorical ability, of 
eir accurate statistical information, and their familiarity with the 
Hails and the data of political economy. His speeches were not 
riched by valuable historical knowledge ; his style was paren- 
etical and obscure ; he possessed none of the graces of elocu- 
>n, none of the splendors of forensic oratory. His manner of 



430 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOEGES. 

speaking was chiefly of the colloquial kind ; yet by this qu 
ity he succeeded in pleasing, interesting, and charming his au< 
tors, while other men astonished, overwhelmed, and enraptuT 
them. But the result was often equally felicitous and favora 
The colloquial style of Mr. Wilberforce was pleasing in its 
and it was new and rare. But the chief motive power which 
wielded, was the vast weight of his moral character. This q 
ity, so rare among statesmen, exerted a prodigious influene 
favor of the measures which he advocated. There was a si 
majesty in the honesty and benevolence of his purposes, in th J 
purity and consistency of his principles, in the virtue and morflj? 
ity of his life. So pre-eminent was this feature in his character 
and position, that one of the most startling practical jokes whi|| 
Sheridan — the antipode of Wilberforce in every imaginable m 
spect — ever perpetrated, had reference to him. One night f 
watchman of London found an intoxicated man lying in the gut] 
ter. He approached him and demanded his name. " I am Mil] 
Wilbei force," replied Sheridan, and rolled over again in tfl] 
mire. The influence of this excellent man was greatly incre&M 
by the fact that he was no partisan. Though personally attach© 
to Mr. Pitt, he dissented from him on many important question 1 ; 
of national policy. His career was a long, and eventually m 
honored one. He represented the county of York in ParliameD 
during forty years. He advocated the great measure of CatholJjl 
Emancipation and assisted in its consummation. His benevr 
lent labors were not confined to those of political life. Hf 
" Practical View of Christianity " is a work of deep thought am' 
evangelical piety ; and has exerted a powerful influence in pre 
moting the cause of morality and religion. He died at an ad 
vanced age in 1833. He was buried in Westminster Abbej 
and his funeral train was graced by the presence of thirty peer! 
a hundred and thirty members of the House of Commons, an< 
a vast concourse of citizens. 

Charles, Earl Grey, held no inconsiderable or secondary plao 
among the statesmen of the era of George IV. He was born il 
1764, and entered Parliament in 1785. He at once joined thl 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOEGE THE FOURTH. 431 

hig party, being seduced thereto, as it has been confidently as- 
rted, by the potent though virtuous fascinations of the beauti- 

Duchess of Devonshire. At first he took no part in the de- 
tcs of Parliament. He passed three years in forensic silence. 
is first speech exhibited clear evidence of his superior oratori- 
l ability. He took a bold stand against the measures of Mr. 
tt, and soon became one of the most formidable members of 
e Opposition, which was headed by the powerful genius of 
larles James Fox. Mr. Grey distinguished himself in the 
3morable trial of Warren Hastings ; and amid an array of 
ried and brilliant talent such as has scarcely ever before or 
ice been enlisted in the assault or the defence of a great crim- 
u, whose successive and rival displays astonished, delighted, 
r d overwhelmed the most cultivated and fastidious audience 
lich has convened in modern times — amid such a galaxy of 
nius, that of Mr. Grey held a prominent place. He was a 
an of chivalrous honor; and when George IV., yet Prince of 
ales, desired him to contradict in an equivocal and dishonor- 
le way, the statement of Mr. Fox in Parliament, that the 
ince was married to Mrs. Fitzherbert, he spurned the base 
fice, and thereby forever offended the unprincipled and unscru- 
ilous prince. 

When Mr. Fox became prime minister in 1806, Mr. Grey 
ok the office of First Lord of the Admiralty, and the title of 
?rd Howick. On the death of Mr. Fox, he became Foreign 
jcretary and leader of the House of Commons. Soon after- 
ard, on the death of his father, he was called to the Upper 
ouse as Earl Grey, and became the leader of the Opposition 
(nong the peers. He retained this position during eighteen 
ars. In public life he displayed the stern severity of a censor ; 

private, he was a model of rigorous virtue, propriety and 
jrity. He contributed greatly in 1820, to defeat the prosecu- 
on against the queen, not that he defended the weaknesses of 
ie lady, so much as that he abhorred the unfathomable vices 
id perfidy of her husband. At length, after the fall of the 
Wellington ministry in 1831, he became prime minister ; and 



432 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

one of his chief measures was the celebrated Reform Bill. H{ 
retained office until 1834, when, at the age of seventy he resigned 
He reached the patriarchal age of eighty-one, and then expire 
full of years and honors. Earl Grey was a man of high taleii| 
of inflexible virtue, of scrupulous honor ; a noble specimen of a 
English peer and statesman ; whose antipathies, if they weijj 
strong and lasting, were generally based on justice and reasoqi 
and who amply deserved the high position which he held duruai 
so many years, in the estimation of his friends, of his country 
and of the civilized world. I 

Erom the eminent statesmen of this era, we turn to the maL 
distinguished men of letters who adorned it. The chief of theE ; 
beyond all controversy was Sir Walter Scott. This prolific aqn 
powerful writer was born at Edinburgh in 1771. He was edi 
cated in his native city, and in 1786 he became an apprentici 
to the profession of an attorney in the office of his father. I 
1792 he was admitted to practise as an advocate at the Scottiti 
bar ; but the dry and repulsive drudgery of the legal profession 
had few charms for a mind so genial and so rich as his. By , 
natural and resistless impulse he gradually reverted to literar ; 
pursuits. His first publication was a translation of some of th 
wild romantic ballads of the German Burger, which had capfoi 
vated his youthful imagination. As yet the great Magician of th. 
North remained unconscious of the prodigious powers with whicj 
nature had gifted him ; and his literary labors were for sora 
time confined to the elaboration of inferior works. At length 
in 1802 the appearance of his "Border Minstrelsy" indicated th. 
opening of a purer and richer vein within him. This work was fo. 
lowed by the " Lay of the Last Minstrel " and " Marmion," and th. 
" Lady of the Lake," the chief of his poetical productions. Thes ; 
labors were but preparatory to those greater and more illustrioty 
works which he was destined to achieve. Having accidental 
discovered an unfinished romance among the old lumber of * 
garret, he completed it, and published it anonymously under thi 
title of " Waverly." Its success was prodigious, and the impreti 
sion produced by it almost without a parallel. He now col; 



LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FOURTH. 433 

ived the resolution of continuing his literary labors, not for the 
.rpose of acquiring literary fame, but wealth, in order that he 
ight become a large landowner. Accordingly he produced in 
pid succession a long list of novels, beginning with " Guy Man- 

ing," all of which, being published anonymously and exhibiting 
eat power, increased the curiosity and mystification of the 
blic to an intense degree. But his secret soon became di- 
llged ; and with its proclamation his fame widely extended. 

1820 he was created a baronet, in acknowledgment of his 
re literary and intellectual pre-eminence. Then followed a 
i-ies of the most able and valuable novels which enrich the 
iglish language : the " Bride of Lammermoor," the " Legend of 
ontrose," and especially " Ivanhoe," taking the pre-eminence for 
asterly powers of diction, of imagery, of familiarity with the 
man character, of acquaintance with antiquarian lore, and of 
ery quality which characterizes the consummate romancer. At 
is period Sir Walter resided at his stately seat of Abbotsford. 

1826 by the failure of his publishers, the Messrs. Constable, 
; became involved in the enormous sum of a hundred and 
r enty thousand pounds. He bore calamities so great as this 
.th heroic fortitude, and immediately addressed himself to the 
rculean task of liquidating his obligations by the labors of his 
n. During the five succeeding years until 1831, he produced 
Tht or ten new works of fiction, beside his "Life of Napoleon," 
listory of Scotland," the "Tales of a Grandfather," and several 
her elaborate works. By this means fifty-four thousand 
iunds of his vast indebtedness were liquidated ; but his exer- 
ms proved to be too great for his physical strength. He he- 
me prematurely old ; and in 1831 his health rapidly and 
riously declined. To avert or postpone impending dissolu- 
!>n, he journeyed to Rome and Naples ; and though he enjoyed 
e usual felicities attendant upon foreign travel, he returned in 
ily, 1832, to his favorite Abbotsford, only to sink rapidly into 
e grave. He expired six weeks after his return. The genius 

Sir Walter Scott was the richest of all those British writers 
ao have labored in the department of romance. The coinage 
19 



434: HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEOKGES. 

of his prolific and powerful brain are masterpieces in that diffi. 
cult department of literature, which will retain their undisputed 
pre-eminence as long as the language in which they are writte^ 
endures. One of the most commendable acts of the reign of' 
George IV. w r as the compliment which he paid to virtue ana 
genius in the person of Sir Walter, by creating him a baronet of 
the United Kingdom in 1820, as a testimony of his persona 
favor, and his appreciation of his genius. 

Second in greatness to Walter Scott among the literary men' 
of this era was George Gordon Byron. This gifted poet wal 
born in London in 1788. His father was a profligate person! 
who, shortly after his birth, abandoned his mother and himsell 
proceeded to Valenciennes and there died. The youth of Byroi 
was spent at Aberdeen. In his fourteenth year he was remove* 
to Harrow, where he received the rudiments of academic and 
classical knowledge. From Harrow he proceeded to Cambridge 
During his residence there, his studies were desultory in the em 
treme ; and in 1807 he published his first work entitled Hours of 
Idleness. This production, which exhibited in exaggeration all thl 
defects with few of the merits of his genius, elicited the famoul 
criticism in the Edinburgh Eeview, which was penned by Mrl 
Brougham. The severity of this criticism, falsely attributed to 
Jeffrey, excited the wrath of the young poet to frenzy, and he wrotl 
in reply his " English Bards and Scotch Eeviewers," in which he 
hurled defiance upon the heads of his literary foes and rivals. In 
1809 he entered the British House of Peers, but made no figure in 
the discussions which took place. He now visited the Levani 
Greece, Syria, and Asia Minor, during the progress of which joui* 
ney he wrote portions of his greatest and best work — " Childl 
Harold." He returned to England in July, 1811. He immffl 
diately published the product of his nomadic labors ; and the sua 
cess of the work was immense. As he himself declared : " he 
awoke one morning and found himself famous." This was the pfij 
riod of the climax of his popularity. The beauty and splendor of 
that production were fully appreciated by the public, and mani 
editions of it were rapidly sold. The " Giaour," the " Bride o| 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FOURTH. 435 

ibydos," and the " Corsair," successively followed ; and so great 
id the fame of the writer become that fourteen thousand copies 
I the last were sold in a single day. 

In 1815 this brilliant and successful author was united by 
nrriage to Miss Milbanke ; but the match proved to be an 
(lhappy one almost from the day of the nuptials. A year after- 
lard the parties permanently separated. The chief cause of 
lis unfortunate result was to be found in the licentious habits 
I the poet, whose excesses were beyond all endurance on the 
Wt even of the most amiable and complacent of wives. His 
jmestic troubles and ungoverned dissipations did not entirely 
(.'event him from producing some works not unworthy of his gen- 
s. "Lara," the " Siege of Corinth," and " Parisina " were suc- 
fssively written and published. Meanwhile his domestic troubles 
id disputes became more annoying, the public interested them- 
flves provokingly and officiously in his private affairs, they de- 
ded, as might have been expected, against him, and the most 
ottered and adulated poet of modern times fell suddenly and 
tally from the dizzy eminence of his popularity, into the depths 
t general odium and contempt. Driven to despair and frenzy 
y this experience of the changeableness and injustice of popular 
raise, the poet determined to abandon his detested country for 
rer. He passed through France and Switzerland to Italy. At 
enice he completed the third and fourth cantos of " Childe 
[arold," the " Prisoner of Chillon," " Beppo," " Manfred," the 
:Lament of Tasso," and some minor poems. Between the 
ears 1819 and 1822 he produced, while living at Venice in 
piental luxury, his chief dramatic works, including " Sardana- 
llus," " Werner," the " Deformed Transformed," and " Marino 
laliero." But neither his literary fame which continued to in- 
rease from year to year, nor his licentious indulgences which 
lere curbed by no restraints, satiated his powerful but diseased 
lind ; and he hoped for relief and an unfelt happiness in plung- 
ig with the heroic Greeks into the surges of that revolution 
;hich was then raging in their fair and classic land. He arrived 
t Missilonghi in January, 1824 ; but his vital powers had been 



436 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

too far exhausted, he survived only a few months, and that ma 
nificent wreck expired in the succeeding April, in the thirty-sh 
year of "his age. No man in English history ever achieved at 
early a period of life so brilliant and so enduring a fame ; ar 
had those stupendous talents not been united to one of the moi' 
depraved and corrupt spirits which ever animated the hurna^' 
form, they would have achieved monuments of their power, per* 
haps greater, nobler, and more wondrous than those even of 
Shakespeare. 

Other poets of exalted talent graced the era of George IV.fi 
among whom belong Campbell, the greatest lyric writer whoE|! 
England has produced, but who also excels in other species o§] 
poetic composition. He may justly be denominated the Peel 
less Bard of Hope ; for his poem on that subject contains stanzas <j 
matchless beauty. His "Mariners of England," " Hohenlinden,t 
" Battle of the Baltic," and " Last Man," all possess a kind of luridj. 
meteoric, unearthly grandeur, which, while it delights, also appalls 
the reader, and retains a deathless grasp upon his memory an* 
imagination. Thomas Moore was essentially the poet of Lov® 
both Oriental and Hibernian ; the Ovid of modern times both il 
genius and in morals. His images are often brilliant, and generally; 
pleasing ; he is the favorite chiefly of women and youth. Yet a 
few of his minor productions, such as " Oft in the stilly night,*.' 
" The Last Rose of Summer," and " Love's Young Dream," ftrifl 
a welcome echo in every human breast, and will ever be cher-' 
ished as among the brightest and purest gems of genius. Sec- 
ondary and inferior to these poetic master-spirits were Rogers, th<j. 
author of the " Pleasures of Memory ; " Southey, the writer op 
" Thalaba ; " "Wordsworth, the poet of nature and the poor ; Cole* 
ridge, the erratic, philosophical, unhappy metaphysician and bard] 
who might have accomplished anything, and effected almost nothi' 
ing ; the pathetic and polished Hemans ; Crabbe, the irnimaginati ve, 
and Tennyson, the eccentric ; these constitute the chief stars in' 
that rare galaxy of gifted minds, which render the era of George 
IV. an Augustan age of British poetry. 

Nor was that age deficient in the production of able and pro* 



LIFE AND KEIGN OF GEOKGE THE FOURTH. 437 

und thinkers. Dugald Stewart, Thomas Brown, Malthus, 
iley, Bentham, were all men of vast depth and originality as 
inkers and writers in the several departments of Mental Phi- 
sophy, Natural Theology, and Political Economy. This was 
e era of the birth of that keen and powerful class of critics 
hose abilities founded and built up the Edinburgh Review and 
ackwood's Magazine, and introduced a new, more just, and 
ore startling style of criticism than had ever been known in 
e history of British literature. Jeffrey, Brougham, Mackintosh, 
dney Smith, Alison, Macaulay, Lockhart, and Wilson, consti- 
ted this remarkable assemblage of writers, whose essays rival 
beauty, while they excel in profundity and thoroughness, the 
oductions of the elder school of British essayists, of whom Ad- 
son and Steele were the chief. Turner, Lingard, Tytler, Hal- 
m, Mitford and Grote, were the most eminent historians of this 
riod ; Marryatt, Miss Edgeworth, Bulwer, and D'Israeli were 
I chief novelists ; Sir Thomas Lawrence, Turner, Copley, Land- 
:er, WiHrie, and Flaxman, were its most distinguished artists ; 
[rs. Siddons, Miss O'Niell, John Kemble, and Edmund Kean, 
ere its most accomplished tragedians ; Chalmers, Robert Hall, 
ohn Foster and Edward Irving were the most eloquent and pop- 
lar of its pulpit orators. The details of the lives and labors of all 
jese illustrious persons are necessarily excluded from a general 
rirvey such as the present ; but every reader in any degree 
miliar with the literary history of the era of George IV. will 
t once recognize the varied power, richness, and splendor of the 
itellectual wealth which was lavished by British genius, upon 
ritish law, letters and art, during its continuance. It may 
lerefore be truly said, that all these high spheres of intellectual 
ffort flourished with more than ordinary vigor at this propitious 
eriod ; for though we have here enumerated but the greatest 
ames of the time, and though these be comparatively few, the 
eneral spirit of improvement prevailed ; the " schoolmaster was 
broad," thought, action, hope, were vigorous, and progress in 
ivery branch of human endeavor and inrprovement was steady 
,nd decisive. This statement applies with peculiar force after 



438 HISTORY OF THE FOUR GEORGES. 

the wars which had desolated Europe had been terminated ; af 
the nations had recovered from the collapse which the unaccuty 
tomed repose of peace had produced ; and after the conclusion of 
the regency, and the commencement of the sovereignty of George 
IV. Prolific as are many eras of British history in the prfi 
duction of events of vast importance and of thrilling interesf 
the period of The Four Georges, the survey of which we heri 
terminate, must be regarded as possessing no secondary consftl 
quence. During its stormy and adventurous progress, the princi .! 
pies of constitutional freedom, which are the great boast of thj; 
British nation, were clearly denned and permanently estab- 
lished ; the limits of the empire in the East were vastly enlarge! 
and aggrandized ; those in the Western World were indeed i 
lopped off and curtailed ; but this apparent calamity led to tbl 
consummation of events most glorious for humanity, if they wer&i 
pernicious to Great Britaiu, inasmuch as it secured the establishii 
ment of a numerous cluster of powerful republics which are noir 
the refuge and the shrine of the oppressed of all nations : whilfl 
the Georges held rule, the European continent was upheaved by 
the throes of revolution and of warfare ; that continent was agaiffi 
in turn pacified and rendered stable ; and when the last monarcl 
of that name descended to the tomb, he left behind him, withoiil 
any merit on his part, an Empire more extensive, more poweii 
ful, more enlightened, and more opulent, than that which had, iu' 
any previous age, acknowledged the supremacy of the British 
sceptre. 



APPENDIX. 

No. I. 



EEPOET OF THE EOYAL COMMISSIONERS ON THE CHAEGES PEE- 
FEEEED AGAINST QUEEN CAEOLINE. 

\fay it please Your Majesty. 

Your Majesty having been graciously pleased by an instrument under 
our Majesty's Royal Sign Manual, a copy of which is annexed to this 
leport, to " authorize, empower, and direct us to inquire into the truth 
of certain written declarations, touching the conduct of Pier Royal 
; Highness the Princess of Wales, an abstract of which had been laid 
before Your Majesty, and to examine upon oath such persons as we 
' should see fit, touching and concerning the same, and to report to 
f Your Majesty the result of such examinations." We have, in dutiful 
•bedience to Your Majesty's commands, proceeded to examine the sev- 
ral witnesses, the copies of whose depositions we have hereunto an- 
lexed ; and, in further execution of the said commands, we now most 
■espectfully submit to Your Majesty the report of these examinations 
is it has appeared to us : But we beg leave at the same time humbly 
o refer Your Majesty, for more complete information, to the examina- 
;ions themselves, in order to correct any error of judgment, into which 
ve may have unintentionally fallen, with respect to any part of this 
business. On a reference to the above mentioned declarations, as the 
lecessary foundation of all our proceedings, we found that they con- 
isted in certain statements, which had been laid before His Royal 
Highness the Prince of Wales, respecting the conduct of Her Royal 
Highness the Princess. That these statements not only imputed to 



4:40 APPENDIX. 

Her Royal Highness great impropriety and indecency of behavior, but ! 8 
expressly asserted, partly on the ground of certain alleged declarations J u 
from the Princess's own mouth, and partly on the personal observation 
of the informants, the following most important facts ; viz. That Her 
Royal Highness had been pregnant in the year 1802, in consequence of 
an illicit intercourse, and that she had in the same year been secretly 
delivered of a male child, which child ever since that period had been 
brought up by Her Royal Highness in her own house, and under her 
immediate inspection. 

These allegations thus made, had, as we found, been followed by 
declarations from other persons, who had not indeed spoken to the im- 
portant facts of the pregnancy or delivery of Her Royal Highness, but 
had related other particulars, in themselves extremely suspicious, 
and still more so when connected with the assertions already men- 
tioned. 

In the painful situation, in which His Royal Highness was placed? 
by these communications, we learnt that His Royal Highness had 
adopted the only course which could in our judgment, with propriety be j 
followed. When informations such as these, had been thus confidently 
alleged, and particularly detailed, and had been in some degree sup- 
ported by collateral evidence, applying to other points of the same na- 
ture (though going to a far less extent,) one line only could be pur- 
sued. 

Every sentiment of duty to Your Majesty, and of concern for the 
public welfare, required that these particulars should not be withheld 
from Your Majesty, to whom more particularly belonged the cogni- 
zance of a matter of State, so nearly touching the honour of Your Ma- 
jesty's Royal Family, and by possibility, affecting the Succession of 
Your Majesty's crown. 

Your Majesty had been pleased, on your part, to view the subject 
in the same light. Considering it as a matter which on every account, 
demanded the most immediate investigation, Your Majesty had thought 
fit to commit into our hands the duty of ascertaining, in the first in- 
stance, what degree of credit was due to the informations, and thereby 
enabling Your Majesty to decide what further conduct to adopt con- 
cerning them. 

On this review, therefore, of the matters thus alleged, and of the 
course hitherto pursued upon them, we deemed it proper in the first 
place to examine those persons in whose declarations the occasion for 
this inquiry had originated. Because if they, on being examined upon 



APPENDIX. 44:1 

oath, had retracted or varied their assertions, all necessity for further 
investigation might possibly have been precluded. 

We accordingly first examined on oath the principal informants, Sir 
John Douglas, and Charlotte his wife : who both positively swore, the 
former to his having observed the fact of the pregnancy of Her Royal 
Highness, and the latter to all the important particulars contained in 
her former declaration and above referred to. Their examinations are 
annexed to this Report, and are circumstantial and positive. 

The most material of those allegations, into the truth of which he 
had been directed to inquire, being thus far supported by the oath of 
the parties from whom they had proceeded, we then felt it our duty to 
follow up the Inquiry by the examination of such other persons as we 
judged best able to afford us information, as to the facts in question. 

We thought it beyond all doubt that, in this course of inquiry, 
many particulars must be learnt which would be necessarily conclusive 
on the truth or falsehood of these declarations. So many persons 
must have been witnesses to the appearances of an actually existing 
pregnancy ; so many circumstances must have been attendant upon a 
real delivery; and difficulties so numerous and insurmountable must 
have been involved in my attempt to account for the infant in question, 
as the child of another woman, if it had been in fact the child of the 
Princess ; that we entertained a full and confident expectation of arriv- 
ing at complete proof, either in the affirmative, or negative, on this part 
of the subject. 

This expectation was not disappointed. We are happy to declare 
to Your Majesty our perfect conviction that there is no foundation 
whatever for believing that the child now with the Princess is the child 
of Her Royal Highness, or that she was delivered of any child in the 
year 1802 ; nor has any thing appeared to us which would warrant the 
belief that she was pregnant in that year, or at any other period within 
the compass of our inquiries. The identity of the child, now with the 
Princess, its parentage, the place and the date of its birth, the time and 
the circumstances of its being first taken under Her Royal Highness's 
protection, are all established by such a concurrence both of positive 
and circumstantial evidence, as can, in our judgment, leave no question 
on this part of the subject. The child was beyond all doubt, born in 
the Brownlow-Street Hospital, on the 11th day of July, 1802, of the 
body of Sophia Austin, and was first brought to the Princess's House 
in the month of November following. Neither should we be more war- 
ranted in expressing any doubt respecting the alleged pregnancy of the 



442 APPENDIX. 

Princess, as stated in the original declarations ; — a fact so fully contra- 
dicted, and by so many witnesses to whom, if true, it must in various 
ways have been known, that we cannot think it entitled to the smallest 
credit. The testimonies on these two points are contained in the an- 
nexed depositions and letters. We have not partially abstracted them 
in this Eeport, lest, by any unintentional omission, we might weaken 
their effect; but we humbly offer to Your Majesty this our clear and 
unanimous judgment upon them, formed on full deliberation, and pro- 
nounced without hesitation, on the l'esult of the whole Inquiry. 

We do not, however, feel ourselves at liberty, much as we should 
wish it, to close our Report here. Besides the allegations of the preg- 
nancy and delivery of the Princess, those declarations, on the whole of 
which Your Majesty has been pleased to command us to inquire and 
report, contain, as we have already remarked, other particulars respect- 
ing the conduct of her Royal Highness, such as must, especially con- 
sidering her exalted rank and station, necessarily give occasion to very 
unfavourable interpretations. 

From the various depositions and proofs annexed to this Report, 
particularly from the examinations of Robert Bidgood, William Cole. 
Frances Lloyd, and Mrs. Lisle, Your Majesty will perceive that several 
strong circumstances of this description have been positively sworn to 
by witnesses, who cannot, in our judgment, be suspected of any unfa- 
vourable bias, and whose veracity, in this respect, we have seen no 
ground to question. 

On the precise bearing and effect of the facts thus appearing, it is 
not for us to decide : these we submit to Your Majesty's wisdom : 
But we conceive it to be our duty to report on this part of the In- 
quiry, as distinctly as on the former facts : that as on the one hand, 
the facts of pregnancy and delivery are to our minds satisfactorily dis- 
proved, so on the other hand we think, that the circumstances to which 
we now refer, particularly those stated to have passed between Her 
Royal Highness and Captain Manby, must be credited until they shall 
receive some decisive contradiction ; and, if true, are justly entitled to 
the most serious consideration. 

We cannot close this Report, without humbly assuring Your Ma- 
jesty, that it was, on every account, our anxious wish, to have executed 
this delicate trust, with as little publicity as the nature of the case 
would possibly allow ; and we entreat Your Majesty's permission to 
express our full persuasion, that if this wish has been disappointed, tho 



APPENDIX. 443 

failure is not imputable to any thing unnecessarily said or done by us. 
All which is most humbly submitted to your Majesty. 
(Signed) EKSKINE, 

SPENCER, 
GRENVILLE, 
July 14th, 1806. ELLENBOROUGH. 

A true Copy, 

J. Becket. 



No. II. 

DEPOSITION OF SOPHIA AUSTIN. 
I know the child which is now with the Princess of Wales. I am 
the mother of it. I was delivered of it four years ago the 11th of July 
next, at Brownlow-street Hospital. I have lain-in there three times. 
"William, who is with the Princess, is the second child I laid-in of there. 
It was marked in the right hand with red wine. My husband was a 
laborer in the Dock-yard at Deptford. When peace was proclaimed, a 
number of the workmen were discharged, and my husband was one 
who was discharged. I went to the Princess with a petition on a Sat- 
urday, to try to get my husband restored. I lived at that time at 
Deptford, New-Row, No. 7, with a person of the name of Bearblock. 
He was a milkman. The day I went to the Princess with the petition, 
was a fortnight before, the 6th of November. Mr. Bennet, a baker in 
New- street, was our dealer, and I took the child to Mr. Bennet's when 
I went to receive my husband's wages every week from the time I left 
the Hospital till I carried the child to the Princess. I knew Mr. Stike- 
man only by having seen him once before, when I went to apply for a 
letter to Brownlow-street Hospital. When I went to Montague 
House, I desired Mr. Stikeman to present my petition. He said they 
were denied to do such things, but seeing me with a baby he could do 
no less. He then took the child from me, and was a long time gone. 
He then brought me back the child, and brought half-a-guinea which 
the ladies sent me. He said if the child had been younger, he could 
have got it taken care of for me, but desired that I would come up 
again. I went up again on the Monday following, and I saw Mr. Stike- 
man. Mr. Stikeman afterwards came several times to us, and ap- 
pointed me to take the child to Montague House on the 5th of Novem- 
ber, but it rained all day, and I did not take it. Mr. Stikeman came 



444 APPENDIX. 



down to me on the Saturday the 6th of November, and I took the child 
on that day to the Princess's house. The Princess was out. I waited 
till she returned. She saw the child, and asked its age. I went down ® 
into the coffee-room, and they gave me some arrow-root to wean tho * 
child ; for I was suckling the child at this time, and when I had weaned in 
the child. I was to bring it and leave it with the Princess. I did wean:ki 
the child, and brought it to the Princess's house on the 15th of No-Ui 
vember, and left it there, and it has been with the Princess ever since. !sn 
I saw the child last Whit-Monday, and I swear that it is my child. iw 

SOPHIA AUSTIN. 
Sworn at Lord Grenville's House in Downing-street, the seventh] 
day of June, 1806, before us, 

ERSKINE, 
SPENCER, 
A true Copy, GRENVILLE, 

J. Beclet. ELLENBOROUGH. 



: 

No. III. 

TESTIMONY OF THE ROYAL PHYSICIANS RESPECTING THE INSANITY 
OF GEORGE III. 

" I should like to give an account of the first consultation we had ' 
with Dr. Willis. — The day that I introduced Dr. Willis to the King, 
I summoned the rest of his Majesty's physicians to a consultation at j 
my house. It was there first settled as a principle, that quiet of body 
and mind were to be endeavored to be obtained by every means pos- 
sible ; and that every thing should be kept carefully from his Majesty 
that might tend to prevent this desirable acquisition. It was settled 
that a regular coercion should be made use of ; that every thing should 
be kept from his Majesty that was likely to excite any emotion ; that 
though his Majesty had not shewn any signs of an intention to injure i 
himself, yet that it was absolutely necessary, considering the sudden 
impulses to which his distemper subjects people, to put every thing 
out of the way that could do any mischief. To all this Dr. Willis 
assented; yet the very next day he put a razor into his Majesty's 
hand, and a penknife. When I saw the doctor next, I asked him how 
he could venture to do such a thing ? He said, he shuddered at what 
he had done. As he made use of this expression, I did not think it 
necessary to say much to him upon the subject. On the 12th of De- 
cember, as I apprehend, the King took a walk in the garden, and some 



APPENDIX. 445 

)f the royal children were shewn to him — this produced a considerable 
imotion, which was accompanied with acts demonstrating that emotion, 
is I was informed, to the best of my memory, by Mr. Keate. — Not- 
vithstanding this effect of seeing the children, Dr. "Willis, the next day, 
ntroduced that Person, whose great and amiable qualities, we all 
enow, must necessarily make her the dearest and tenderest object of 
lis Majesty's thoughts — the interview was short — his Majesty was 
:oon afterwards in a great state of irritation ; and the strict coercion 
vas, I believe, for the first time, actually applied that night— the 
disters were put on that night likewise. The next time that I saw 
)r. Willis, I spoke to him upon this subject with some degree of sharp- 
less, because it was contrary to my opinion, and contrary to what had 
ieen settled in consultation ; for it had been referred, that whatever 
:ould be done by deliberation, should be settled by consultation ; that 
he conduct of his Majesty in the interior room, should be left to Dr. 
rYillis's discretion, because it did not admit of deliberation. — I do not 
tnow that I convinced the Doctor that his opinion was wrong, but 
hat the act was contrary to what was laid down in consultation could 
lot be denied. — I was always considered, by the highest authority, 
.s the first physician, and therefore thought myself particularly re- 
ponsible ; I thought myself obliged to look into, and to inquire after 
very thing that related to his Majesty ; I did not suppose myself in a 
lifferent situation upon the arrival of Dr. Willis, and therefore took 
he liberty of speaking to him with some degree of authority. I 
emember when his three attendants arrived, I sent for them into the 
hysicians' room, examined them very carefully, particularly as to the 
emper with which they conducted themselves towards those whom 
hey attended, and spoke to them, as they were strangers to me, in 
uch a manner as to let them know that their conduct would be strictly 
bserved. — My being first physician made me talk to Dr. Willis about 
very thing that I heard of, that did not appear to me to be quite 
ccurate. and sometimes led to disputes. — I informed the Doctor that 
e was there in a double capacity — as physician and attendant on his 
lajesty in the interior room ; that I must take my share in directing 
rhat related to him in the capacity of physician, though I should not 
iterfcre with respect to the conduct of his Majesty in the interior 
oom. Not many clays after this transaction I observed a book in his 
lajesty's hands, which affected me much, and immediately determined 
le to bring a charge against Dr. Willis, for what I thought bad prac- 
ice. — I do not mean to bring the story of this book as a fault, because 



446 APPENDIX. 

I believe there was no intention to convey such a book to his Majesty :» 
it was the play of King Lear, not in a volume of Shakspeare, but iti 
was a corrected Lear, by Colman, and mixed with his plays. I cam 
have no reason to think that Dr. "Willis could suspect that such a plays 
was in that volume. His Majesty told me that Dr. Willis brought! 
him the book, and Dr. Willis did not deny it, when I spoke to him on| 
the subject. — I do not bring this as a fault, but it was the circumstances 
that determined me to put in execution what I had been thinking ofij 
before, with respect to Dr. Willis ; for his Majesty's observation ond 
the book affected me strangely. I carried an account of this to thej 
Prince of Wales, and he desired me, as he had done in every case oil) 
difficulty that had happened, from the beginning of the illness, to lays 
the affair before the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor went tot 
Kew, I believe ; and the result was, when I saw the Lord Chancellory 
that the rules of the consultation should be strictly obeyed. — Drj| 
Willis has, a second time, introduced the same great and amiable* 
Person. I was informed that some degree of irritation came on in the* 
night ; but having collected, as I thought, from several small circum-i 
stances, that the power of introducing persons to his Majesty was to 
be left entirely to Dr. Willis, I did not make any complaint about it." ' 

" Can you ascertain the time of the last interview ? " " I cannot.' 1 ; 

" What time of day was the first interview ? " 

" I apprehend the first interview was in the evening — and that the^ 
interview happened, not only without consulting his Majesty's physi-i 
cians collectively, but that Dr. Gisborne, who was in the house that 
evening, and sitting in the anti-chamber when the introduction tools' 
place, was not consulted upon the occasion." 

" Do you recollect any conversation you had with Dr. Willis con' 
cerning the King's being asleep, or disposed to sleep, at a time wherl 
you was going in to his Majesty ? " " 

" I remember a morning when Dr. Willis said his Majesty had hac' 
a bad night, which I myself had been acquainted with by asking th(' 
page, as I passed by the King's anti-chamber, the door of which ]' 
opened as I was going into the physician's room. — In the physician'!: 
room I mentioned that I had learnt the King had had a very ba(' 
night, but was then fallen asleep. — I sat down, and what discourse 
passed between me and Dr. Willis then, about the night, I do no ; 
know — a few words only. — The Doctor soon went out of the room?' 
and when he returned, said, ' That the King was not sleeping, for tha'i 
he spoke.' — I got up, the attending physician of the day with me, an<^ 



APPENDIX. 447 

alked towards Dr. Willis — we went together through the anti-cham- 
er ; when I arrived at the door of his Majesty's bed-room, Dr. Willis 
lid, You may open the door, a circumstance that I do not recollect, 
ver to have happened to me before — somebody else generally opening 
le door : — when I opened it, I found that the room was dark — I step- 
Mi forwards very slowly ; as soon as I had gone the width of the 
oor, I was visible to his Majesty. The door being open, his Majesty 
hmediatcly addressed himself very pointedly to me, saying, ' I am glad 
d see you, 1 and adding his wish to be released from the state he was 
hen in, which was a state of coercion. I hesitated ; went one step 
ack to look for Dr. Willis, who was standing very near me. I said 
omething to the Doctor, and he immediately replied, in substance, 
oat if his Majesty complained I might comply with his request. In 
pnsequence of which it was done, by my desire. I staid but a short 
,me with his Majesty, and, as I was walking back, I said, ' I had 
ome doubts whether the complying with his Majesty's request was 
: ot improper, for he is in a very irritated state.' Dr. Willis said, 
His Majesty will rise presently, and then we shall be able to do with- 
ut coercion.' " 



No. IV. 

PECIMEN OF EDMUND BUEKE'S ELOQUENCE ON THE EEGENCT BILL. 

Mr. Burke rose, and declared himself astonished that the Bill 
hould be proposed to be read a second time, without the House hav- 
ig heard a syllable as to what the principles of the Bill, as opened and 
cted upon by the clauses and provisions of the Bill, were. He had, 
e said, often known the principles upon which a Bill had been ordered 
3 be brought, in. either totally lost sight of in the Bill itself, or so 
iolently strained and departed from in the various clauses, that 
carcely a single principle upon which the House had resolved to legis- 
ite, was to be found in the Bill, or to be found entire. It behoved the 
louse, therefore, at all times, to watch great and important Bills 
arrowly, and to see that they were not deceived and deluded ; and 
hat while they meant and had resolved to pass a Bill for one purpose, 
hey were not induced to pass a Bill, containing provisions to answer 
very different purpose. There might possibly, he said, exist some 
oubts as to the constitutional and legal competency of the character 
a which they were then proceeding to act as a branch of a perfect 



44$ appe:n-dix. 

legislature; in argument and in debate, he and others had much ques-i 
tioned the validity of the Commission, under the authority of whicl< 
Parliament had been opened ; but admitting for the present that therti 
had been exercised a competent power to make the House a Parlfl 
nient. and enable them to do the act. upon which they were proceeding] 
they ought to see what the Bill was, before they went on with it. ant, 
therefore, though he meant not to debate the subject at large, he shouli-j 
take the liberty of calling the attention of the House, before they reacji 
the Bill a second time, to the extent of its provisions, and the extrao»j 
dinary manner in which the Resolutions that the two Houses had eon*! 
to were now attempted to be made use of. and carried into effect. X eve>: 
surely, said he. was there a time when the people of England and thaai 
House were so called on to see what they were doing, and to examine 
with every possible degree of prudence and foresight, the serious and imi 
portant consequences what they were doing might lead to. His Majesty'; i 
incapacity to exercise the Royal Authority had been established, 
the conviction of the two Houses, in a manner that left all possibi 
of doubt out of the question; indeed, if the examination of 
Majesty's physicians had not taken place, the fact would be too clc 
to have admitted a dispute, from a great variety of consequences 
necessary to be detailed, because they were consequences which tt 
not only saw but felt. The duration of his Majesty's malady, the ti; 
it might take, the disguises it might assume, lay hidden in the seer 
recesses of the dispositions of Providence. His Majesty was insa 
but his malady was not like that of some other persons who we 
under confinement in houses and places destined for such purpos 
intermittent, various, subject to degrees, lucid intervals, and occasional 
visitations of reason, but his faculties were totally eclipsed ; and a* 
Dr. TTilhs. in the sanguine temper, ungoverned zeal, and impetuou4 
rashness of his mind, could not take upon him to decide what woul«| 
be the duration of his Majesty's illness, it was not likely that physi c 
cians of more moderate minds, of cooler judgments, and of more sobe^, 
reason, should take upon them to decide the duration of the malad™ 
that had struck at the Sovereignty of the Empire, and wounded everv 
thing that was Sovereign, either in the political or natural capacity II 
the King upon the Throne. Not any thing like a moderate time*) 
therefore, had been promised for the duration of his Majesty's illness! 
the malady of the Monarch consequently was fixed to no knowil 
definite time, and at that moment a Bill was brought in totally U^ 
separate and parcel out the Royal Authority, so as to leave only tbt^ 



APPENDIX. 449 

lance of a Government necessarily so weak and impotent, as to be 
arce able to stand at all. All limited power, Mr. Burke said, was 
Dm its nature feeble, and the circumstance of its being only temporary 
id uncertain, rendered it still more deficient in vigor and in efficacy, 
he first object of the Bill was, he observed, to nominate a person to 
>ld this weak and almost useless Government. The next purpose it 
owed its aim to effect, was the raising a power in opposition to that 
Oyal Authority. Those who gave such powers, were clearly to be the 
asters of them, and there could no doubt remain but that the Bill 
as drawn with a design to answer the rash ends of the mad and dar- 
g ambition of a Bight Honorable Gentleman, whose conduct had but 

plainly manifested his view, and his intentions. Thus there was a 
irtition of power, in which the Prince was destined to have no other 
an an official character, while all the Palaces, Offices, and Dignities, 

re given to another. This partition was more odious and offensive 
an the famous partition treaty relati^^p) the succession, on the 
ath of the last Prince of the House ofTaistria. It was a partition 
unded on a most wicked and malicious principle ; every thing that 
as degrading and restrictive, every thing that stamped a suspicion on 
le character of the Prince, and conveyed a gross affront to his Boyal 
ighness, by holding him out as a person not to be trusted, as a person 
horn the public ought to suspect, and were likely to be deceived by, 
as done by what wa; withheld in the Bill ; while, on the other hand, 

1 that was graceful, all that was honorable, all that was calculated to 
)ld up a character as great, virtuous, and meritorious, was given 
here an opposition was set up to oppose and counteract the executive 
overnment. This Bill affected to give the Boyal Authority, and 
nded to answer the purposes of a faction against that authorit} r . Its 
al object was to defeat the preferable claim of the Prince of Wales to 
ie Begency, in the very moment that the Claim had been in practice 
id in effect, found to be irresistible, and to set up what had been 
rmed the equal Bight of a Subject as paramouut to the Prince's 
ight. Mr. Burke, with great warmth, declaimed upon the purport 
' the Bill, in the view of which he chose to consider it. and among a 
vriety of other invectives against it, said, the doctrine of divine right, 
hich had been exploded in the House of the Stuarts, was now revived 

favor of another House. The present Minister, he understood, had 
^n called an heaven-born Minister in another place ; they might fairly 
ippose, therefore, that he had a divine right to take to himself a 
j"ger portion of power and of patronage than he chose to leave to the 



450 APPENDIX. 

Prince on the Throne ; and when he said the Prince on the Throni 
he begged to be understood as alluding to the Prince of Wales, sitting 
on the Throne in his delegated character, on the behalf, in the name, 
and as the representative of his father. But if the Minister was 
already declared by one of his fanatics to be an heaven-lorn Minister, 
he did not wonder at his considering himself as acting under the in- 
fluence of a divine right, and that he should go any lengths to secure 
the power that he aimed at. By the present Bill, all the powers of 
distributing honors, and even charity, were denied the Begent. There 
were, Mr. Burke observed, a variety of lesser instances of bounty 
annexed to the Crown, that the Begent was most invidiously restrained 
from. There were employed by the Household, painters, architects, 
poets, historiographers, and many other artists and artificers of different 
degrees, ranks, orders, and descriptions, to reward whom, the Prince ; 
was deprived of every possible opportunity. He was left without a :[ 
table, without any provisiMpat resembled the shadow of royalty, fur- i 
ther than what he had enjoyed as Prince of Wales, from his Majesty's ; 
personal bounty. Mr. Burke enlarged upon this topic considerably ; 
and with his customary ardor of expression. Though, he trusted, he >| 
honored her Majesty as much as any other subject, he did not think she < 
ought to have that patronage. She might be nominated to hold it, but \ 
he was confident the exercise of it would devolve into other hands, i 
The Bill was calculated, he said, to eclipse the Royal dignity, and to <\ 
reduce the Regent to an official character, which was a scandal to the J 
nation, and the more so, as coming from those who were thought men i 
of honor, and therefore he should consider it as a wicked, base, and | 
unjust action, not more degrading to the Prince of Wales, than dis- ., 
graceful to the perpetrators. By the Bill, responsibility was given to 
the Prince of Wales, who was saddled by having all the onerous duties 
of Government imposed on him, without having any grateful powers 
to counterbalance the burthen, while the dignity, splendor, and real 
distribution of emoluments, were given to the Minister. The Bill 
meant not only to degrade the Prince of Wales, but the whole House 
of Brunswick, who were to be outlawed, excommunicated, and attainted 
as having forfeited all claim to the confidence of the country ! 



INDEX. 



idison, Joseph, liis genius and writings, 

13, 84, B5. 

nerican Colonies, origin of difficulties 

vith, •J'J4 : lirsr Congress convenes at 

Philadelphia, '-''27 ; conclusion of the revo- 

utionary war, 229. 

oe, Qneen, her accession, 2 ; her death, 18. 

iir. Princess, her marriage to the Duke 

>f Oranp 

ison, Conimorlore, his successes. 134. 

terbury, Bishop, plots for the Pretender, 

»; his profanity, 9ft 

eusta, Dowager Princess of AYales, death 

it; 225. 



rmingham, riots at. i 
ick Hole, horrors of, 16G. 
?nheim. battle of 8 : its results, 5; re- 
oicing in England, 6. 
Ungbroke, fliirht to France, 41 ; his return 
aid. OS; his intellectual and moral 
malittes, 71. T. 
ent, .Miss, becomes mistress of George 

< . Napoleon, his hostility to Engl- 
and, 264: military operations or, 265 ; his 
intograpo letter to George 111.. 26T; his 
lownl'all. 278; escapes from Elba, 279; 
jrepares to oppose the coalition, 280; 
Wttle of Charleroi. 2S1 ; battle of Water- 

. Lord, his birth, 423 ; enters Par- 
rivalry between him and 
lea of his mind, 424 ; 
of his eloquence, 425; his 
efeuce of Queen Caroline, 872, 426; be- 
omes chancellor, 426; his diversified 

. 42T. 
addock, defeat at Fort Da Quesne, 155. 
unswick, princes of, 20, 21 ; Caroline of, 
S3S. 



Bute, Lord, his history and character, 181 ; 
becomes premier. 19] ; measures of, 192; 
signs treaty of Fontainbleau,192 : his great 
unpopularity, 195; he resigns, 196. 

Burke, Edmund, his rise. 207 ; animosity to 
Warren Hastings, 242 ; his detestation of 
the French revolution, 256 ; his personal 
qualities, 302 ; his eloquence, 303. 

Byng, Admiral, his trial and execution, 157, 
158. 

Byron, Lord, his personal history, 434, 435 ; 
his writings, 435. 



Canning, his birth, 41S; circumstances of 
his youth, 419 ; first speech in Parliament, 
420; his principles. "421; his eloquence, 
422; enters the Cabinet, 270, 405; retort 
on Mr. Brougham, 399 ; his mental quali- 
ties, 422 ; his death, 406. 

Campbell, Thomas, his poetical works, 436. 

Caroline Queen of George II., her char- 
acter, 120, 130; last sickness and death, 
124-127. 

Carteret, Lord, his eloquence, 99 ; becomes 
Premier, 140. 

Catholics, Eoman, prejudices against, 63; 
Catholic Association, 402; Catholic Ee- 
lief Bill passed, 409. 

Caroline of Brunswick, her marriage, 339 ; 
charges against her, 852; travels on the 
continent, 302 ; her conduct, 364 ; second 
prosecution against her, 364; her return 
to England, 305; her trial before the 
Souse of Lords, 309; her council, 371; 
her acquittal, 373; her abortive attempt 
to bo crowned, 8S1 ; her last sickness. 
888; her death, 884; her burial, 887. 

Charlotte of Mecklenburg .Strelitz, 178 ; 
marriage to George III., 179. 

Charlotte, Princess, her appearance, 856, 
deserts her father, 360. 

Chatham, Lord. (See Pitt.) 



452 



INDEX. 



Chesterfield, Lord, his character, 98. 
Clarence, William Henry, Duke of, 395 ; 

his promotions, 395 ; connection with Mrs. 

Jordan, 396 ; his personal qualities, 396. 
Clive, Lord, commencement of military ca- 
reer, 164. 165 ; heroic conduct at Arcot, 

165 ; victory at Plassey, 167. 
Corn Laws, proposed repeal of, 404. 
Cornwallis, Archbishop, his levity reproved, 

319. 
Criminal Jurisprudence, efforts to reform, 

294. 
Cullo'den, battle of, 145. 
Cumberland, Duke of, his character and 

death, 206. 



D 



Darby, Miss, mistress of George IV., 326 ; 
separate provision made for her, 327. 

Denman. Lord, his defence of Queen Caro- 
line, 373. 

Dettingen, battl« of, 141. 

Douglas, Lady, her intrigues against Queen 
Caroline, 351. 

Dowlah, Surajah, cruelty of, 167. 

Dupleix, his achievements in India, 163, 164. 



Egremont, Earl of, succeeds Pitt as Pre- 
mier, 1S5. 

Emmet, Robert, his insurrection and death, 
265, 266. 

Eugene, Prince, gallantry at Blenheim, 4. 



Fitzberbert, Mrs., history of her connection 
with George IV., 335 ; her claims as his 
wife, 337. " 

Fontainbleau, treaty of, 192 ; discussions 
on, 193. 

Fontenoy, battle of, 143. 

Fox, Henry, enters the cabinet, 159. 

Fox, Charles James, rise of, 225; his East 
India Bill, 239 ; becomes Premier, 269 ; 
Ms personal qualities, 304; his eloquence, 
305 ; causes of his popularity, 306. 

Francis, Sir Philip, author of Junius, 312. 

France, war with, 201. 

Frederic, Prince of Wales, 94 ; hostility of 
his parents, 95; proposals for his mar- 
riage, 112; his bride, 114; marriage cere- 
monies, 114 ; his death, 14S, 149. 

French Revolution, effects of, 259, 260. 



G 



Gay, John, his poetical works, SS. 

George I., birth of, 22 ; suitor of the Prin- 
cess Anne, 22; becomes elector of Han- 
over, 23 ; his marriage, 24 ; his accession 
to the British throne, 34; arrival in Eng- 
land, 35 ; state of the nation, 36, 39 ; his 
coronation, 40 ; his mistresses, 43; jour- 



ney to Hanover, 44 ; his death, 80, 81 ; his. 
character, 81, 82, 83. 

George II., birth of, and youth, 91; his' 
marriage, 92; his social habits, 93; his, 
mistresses, 94 ; his accession, 96 ; his first: 
Cabinet, 97; his visit to Hanover, 109;* 
takes a new mistress, 110; narrowly es- ; . 
capes shipwreck, 118, 119; buffoonery ortt 
the death of his wife, 126, 127 ; perils at. 
Dcttingen, 141 ; his death, 16S ; his char-i 
acter, 170; writers during his reign, 171. 

George III., birth of, 175; chief incident oi 
his boyhood, 176 ; connection with Han-, 
nah Lightfoot, 176; proposals to marry t 
Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz, 177; 
his accession, 179 ; overruled by Lord. 
Bute, 181; his coronation, 1S9, 190; lvisi 
first indications of insanity, 204; inci-i 
dents of his domestic life, 230 ; attempts, 
to assassinate him, 249, 262 ; attack of in-r 
sanity, 251 ; his recovery, 253 ; renders 
thanks in St. Paul's cathedral, 253 ; an-t 
other attack of insanity, 263 ; minute de- 
tails respecting his insanity, 273, 274, 275; 
his moral qualities, 320 ; religion during: 
his reign, 320 ; his general character, 32 Lt 

George IV., birth of, 823 ; his early edu-; 
cation, 324 ; his personal appearance, 325 ; 
his first mistress, 326 ; removes to Carl-:* 
ton House. 32S ; becomes enamored with/ 
Mrs. Fitzherbert, 32S ; her history, 329 1 
debts of the Prince, 331 ; removes to. 
Brighton, 332; proposed marriage with: 
Caroline of Brunswick, 334; difficulties! 
with Mrs. Fitzherbert, 336 ; his connec-' 
tion with the Marchioness of Hertford,; 
337; his marriage with Caroline, 839, 341,1 
342 ; his enormous debts, 845 ; his con-:j 
nection with Lady Jersey, 346 ; his want 
of principle, 849 : his hostility to his wife,.! 
350; intrigues of Lady Douglas, 851 ; has: 
a commission appointed to prosecute thei 
Princess Caroline, 352 ; her vindication,! 
353; he becomes Eegent, 356; he be- 
comes King, 376 ; his coronation, 378 }] 
refuses to allow the Queen to be crowned,( 
381; exultation at his wife's death, 3S5; 
his hostility to reform, 407 ; reasons of his ( 
Protestantism, 407; his last illness, 415; 
his death, 416 ; his character, 417. 

Gibbon, Edward, personal incidents, 315, 
316; his historical works, 317. 

Goderich, Lord, succeeds Mr. Canning aa 
Premier, 400. 

Grafton, Duke of, interview with Pitt, 214;, 
resigns the Premiership, 222 ; Horace 
Walpole's opinion of him, 222. 

Grenville, George, becomes Premier, 196. 

Grey, Charles, Earl, his youth, 431 ; hit 
parliamentary abilities, 431 ; his personal 
qualities, 432. 

H 

nanover, origin of house of, 19; treaty o£ 
66, 67. 

Hastings, Warren, his early history, 244,' 
245; measures of his administration in 
India, 246 ; his trial in Westminster Hall, 1 
247 ; his ultimate acquittal, 24S. 



INDEX. 



453 



Eawke, Admiral, great victory, 161. 

Lord, fate after Caroline's death, 
128, 129. 

toward, Mr?., mistress of George II., 108. 

tame, David, 171; his merits as an histo- 
rian, 317. 

[nskisson, Mr., his financial abilities, 39S; 
his great public services, SOS. 



ndia. East. British Company, its origin, 
168; its charter renewed, 220; vast ex- 
it of its power and wealth. 282, 288, 
outrages perpetrated on the subject na- 
284; influence and power of Hast- 
ings. 2 

relainl, unsettled state of, 243; continued 
troubles in, 401. 



acobite epitaph on Prince Frederic, 150. 
ersey, Lady, mistress of George IV., 846. 
csuits, order of. their character, 410,411. 
unius, publication of his letters, 221. 



!ent, Edward Augustus, Duke of, 3S9 ; 
early discipline of. 390; his residence at 
Gibraltar, 391 ; his bravery. 392 ; becomes 
Governor of Gibraltar, 393 ; his marriage, 
394; his death, 394. 

loenigsmark. family of, 25 ; Philip von, 26 ; 
his connection with the wife of the Elec- 
tor of Hanover, 23 ; his assassination, 29. 



.aw, his adventures, 47, 4S. 

■egge, Mr., becomes Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer, 154. 

.exington, battle of, 228. 

.ouisXIV., his colossal power, 1 ; his ac- 
quisitions of territory, 2 ; his losses by 
the "War of the Succession, 18. 



M 

lacclesfleld, Earl of, his impeachment, 67. 

ladrid, treaty of, 132. 

laiplaquet, battle of, 15; its results, 16. 

larlborough, Duke of, commands at Blen- 
: rewards received for his gallant- 
ry. 7 ; Duchess of, 10 ; loses her influence, 
11 ; the Duke is disgraced, 17. 

Easham, Mrs , rise of, 11. 

Dssissippi, French forts on, 155. 

loore, Thomas, his poetical works, 436. 

lurray, Lord, qualities and talents of, 152. 



N 
fassau, Rev, Mr., his mission to Rome, ! 



Nelson, Lord, victory of Trafalgar, 263. 

Newcastle, Duke of, his character, 97 ; be- 
comes Premier, 154. 

Newton, Sir Isaac, his genius, 89. 

North, Lord, becomes Premier, 223 ; his 
personal and political qualities, 299, 300. 
i .mi. Earl of, his bill In Parliament 
in favor of tho Trinity, 60, 61. 







O'Connell, Daniel, his abilities and labors, 

403. 
Orangemen, their aims, 402. 
Orange, Prince William of, 2. 
Oudenarde, battle of, 12 ; its results, 13. 



Pelham, nenrv, his qualities, 152. 

Pension Bill, the, 139. 

Pcrcival, Mr., becomes Premier, 356 ; his 
assassination, 356. 

Pitt, William, his first speech in the House of 
Commons, 112 ; rise of his popularity, 
151 ; becomes Prime Minister, 159 ; im- 
mediate results, 160; splendid achieve- 
ments of his administration, 184 ; singular 
disease of, 212, 213 ; his letters to George 
III., 216; recovers his health, 218; pecu- 
liarities of his eloquence, 297; his per- 
sonal qualities, 29S. 

Pitt, William, the Younger, his first appear- 
ance in Parliament, 231 ; he becomes 
Premier, 240 ; peculiarities of his elo- 
quence, 241 ; his admirable measures, 
243 ; his project respecting unclaimed 
dividends, 257 ; his death, 269 ; his intel- 
lectual qualities, 306 ; his patriotism, 307. 

Plassey, victory of, 167. 

Platen, Countess von, her conduct and char- 
acter, 27. 

Pope, Alexander, his life and writings, 87, 
88. 

Pragmatic sanction, 64. 

Priestly, Joseph, 253. 

Prestonpans, battle of, 144. 

Pretender, heads the rebellion in Scotland, 
45 ; his defeat, 46 ; his second rebellion, 
68 ; his victory at Prestonpans, 144 ; his 
defeat at Culloden, 145. 

Pulteney, William, 69, 102. 



Ramillies, battle of, 9 ; its results, 10. 
Reform Bill, its provisions, 413, 414. 
Regency, first council of, appointed, 205. 
Representation, Parliamentary, efforts to 

reform, 294. 
Riots in Staffordshire and South Wales, 291. 
Robertson, William, 171 ; his qualities as a 

historian, 318. 
Rockingham, Marquis of, becomes Premier, 

206 ; his various measures, 236, 237. 



4:54: 



INDEX. 



S 



Saxe, Marshal, his victory at Fontenoy, 142. 
Scott, Sir Walter, his personal history, 432 ; 

his various writings, 433 ; his pecuniary 

difficulties, 433. 
Septennial Parliaments, 106. 
Seville, Congress of, 101. 
Sh'elbourne, Earl of, becomes Premier, 237 ; 

events during his administration, 238. 
Sheridan, E. B., specimen of his eloquence, 

256 ; his history, 309 ; his talents, 310. 
Smith, Adam, his writings, 318. 
Spain, preparations for war with, 79 ; its 

results, 80 ; second war declared against, 

186 ; results, 1S7, 188. 
South Sea Bubble, history of, 48, 49, 50. 
Stamp Duties, origin of, 203, 204; discus- 
sions respecting, 209, 210. 
Succession, war of the, 3. 
Swift, Jonathan, his life and writings, 65, 86, 

87. 



Tories, doctrines- of, 37. 

Trafalgar, victory of, 268. 

Trinity, controversies concerning, 60, 61. 



United States, their freedom acknowledged, 

237 
Utrecht, treaty of, 17. 



Vernon, Admiral, his successes, 133. 
Versailles, meeting of the States-General 
at, 254. 



u> 



w 



"Walmoden, Madam, 110 ; her conduct, 115 
Walpole, Eobert, his qualities as a states 

man, 52, 53, 54; retained as Premier b; 

George II., 97 ; furious attack on, i 

Parliament, 134 ; his final retirement, 

137. 
Wellington, Lord, victories in the Penin 

Bula, 271; victory at Waterloo, 283. • 
Wellington, Earl of, becomes Premier, 138 
Wilkes, history'and character of, 197, 198 

his political agitations, 199 ; His Essay or 

Woman, 201 ; his frequent re-elections t< 

Parliament, 219. 
Willis, Dr., physician of George III., 275, 
Whigs, doctrines of, 36. 
Walpole, Horace, his history and character 

315. 
Waterloo, victory of, 283. 
Wilberforce, William, efforts against the 

slave-trade, 292, 42S ; his unwearied exer 

tions, 429 ; his personal qualities, 430. 
Windham, William, qualities of, 70, 71. . 



York, Duke of, his death, 404. 
Young, Sir George, enters the Cabinet 
237. 



Zell, princes of house of, 21 ; Sophia Do 
rothea, her imprisonment, 31, 32 ; hei 
death, 57, 74. ' 



\U 



$ 635 



